principium

Learned borrowing from Latin prī̆ncipium.^[1]

principium (plural principia)

1. singular of principia

From prī̆nceps (“first, foremost”) +‎ -ium (“suffix forming abstract nouns”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [priːŋˈkɪ.pi.ũː], [prɪŋˈkɪ.pi.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [prin̠ʲˈt͡ʃiː.pi.um]
• See the note at prī̆nceps for the length of the vowel in the first syllable.

prī̆ncipium n (genitive prī̆ncipiī or prī̆ncipī); second declension

1. a beginning, an origin, a commencement

   Synonyms: initium, exordium, prīmōrdium, orīgō, rudīmentum, limen

   Antonym: fīnis

   • [90-110], [John] Iōannēs, Biblia [Bible], volume Novum Testāmentum [New Testament] (canonical gospel), Ēvangelium secundum Iōannem [Gospel according to John], chapter 1, verse 1, lines 1–3:

     In prīncipiō erat Verbum,
     et Verbum erat apud Deum
     et Deus erat Verbum.

     In the beginning was the Word,
     the Word was with God
     and the Word was God.

     (literally, “In the beginning was the Word,
     the Word was with God
     and God was the Word”)

2. a groundwork, a foundation, a principle
3. (in the plural) the elements, the first principles
4. (military, in the plural) the front ranks, camp headquarters

Second-declension noun (neuter).

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

• prī̆ncipiālis

• → Asturian: principiu
• → Catalan: principi
• → Galician: principio
• → Italian: principio
• → Old French: principe
  • French: principe
    • → Danish: princip
    • → Dutch: principe
      • Afrikaans: prinsipe
      • → Indonesian: prinsip
      • → West Frisian: prinsipe
    • → Norwegian Bokmål: prinsipp
    • → Norwegian Nynorsk: prinsipp
    • → Turkish: prensip
  • → Middle English: principle
    • English: principle
• → Portuguese: princípio
• → Romanian: principiu
• → Spanish: principio

prī̆ncipium

1. genitive plural of prī̆nceps

• Principia Philosophiae on the Latin Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^la

• “principium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “principium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "principium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• principium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the elements: elementa; initia or principia rerum
    
  • to start from false premises: a falsis principiis proficisci