triunus

Latin

Etymology

From tri- +‎ ūnus. The noun triūnitās is attested in some late antique and medieval Christian texts as an alteration of trīnitās, apparently for the sake of emphasizing the theological concept of the trinity being one god in three persons.^[1]^[2] Subsequently, the adjective form triūnus is mentioned alongside the noun triūnitās in a list of words derived from trēs in Derivationes, an etymological dictionary attributed to the grammarian Huguccio of Pisa (now thought to be a different person from the canonist named Huguccio).^[3]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [triˈuː.nʊs]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [t̪riˈuː.nus]

Adjective

triūnus (feminine triūna, neuter triūnum); first/second-declension adjective (pronominal)

(Medieval Latin, New Latin) triune
- 1440, Nicholas of Cusa, “Capitulum XIX. Transumptio trianguli infiniti ad trinitatem maximam”, in De docta ignorantia‎^[3], volume 1:
  Coniunge igitur ista, quae videntur opposita, antecedenter, ut praedixi; et non habebis unum et tria vel e converso, sed unitrinum seu triunum.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1453, Nicholas of Cusa, De Visione Dei:
  O mirabilissimus deus, qui neque es numeri singularis, neque numeri pluralis, sed super omnem pluralitatem et singularitatem unitrinus et triunus.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1519, Guillaume Briçonnet, Sermo synodalis R. in Christo Patris D. Gvillermi Meldensis Ep̃i, habitus Meldis, anno 1915, die 13 Octobris: quo monẽntur quibus ouiũ cura credita est, illis præentes inuigilare.‎^[4], Paris: Henricus Stephanus, published 1520:
  nõ vos ipsos, sed secũdũ Petri præceptũ, pascite ꝗ in vobis est, gregem dei, prouidentes non coacte, sed spõtanee, secundum deum, neqꝫ vt dominãntes, sed forma facti gregis, vt cum apparuerit prĩceps pastorum dulcissimus IHESVS, percipiatis immarcessibilem gloriæ coronam, quã vobis largiatur qui vnitrinus et triunus est.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1613 [1603], Quercetanus, De Priscorum Philosophorum verae medicinae materia, page 20:
  Voluitq́ue summus ille creator manifestari unitrinus, seu triunus, non tantùm in eo, quod reperitur in natura terrae, sed in omnibus etiam totius creationis operibus.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1666 [1649], Johann Conrad Dannhauer, Οδοσοφια christiana seu theologia positiva, page 267:
  Ergò Deus Triunus est verus Deus, ac reciprocè verus Deus est triunus Deus
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1825 [1690], Johannes à Marck, chapter XXVI, in Johannis Marckii Christianæ Theologiæ Medulla Didactico-elenctica‎^[5], 1st American edition, Philadelphia: Towar & Hogan, page 253:
  sed non est illud necessarium, cum Triunus Deus nomen Patris bene admittat,
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1886, Guido Maria Dreves (ed.), Cantiones Bohemicae. Leiche, Lieder und Rufe des 13., 14., und 15. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig: Fues, page 73:
  Maria triūnī gerula,
  tē precor vōce querulā,
  nē aspern<ē>ris verba lāmentantis
  Mary, carrier of the triune, I beseech thee with sorrowful voice, spurn not the words of the lamenting.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (pronominal).

	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
	singular			plural
nominative	triūnus	triūna	triūnum	triūnī	triūnae	triūna
genitive	triūnī̆us triūnī			triūnōrum	triūnārum	triūnōrum
dative	triūnī			triūnīs
accusative	triūnum	triūnam	triūnum	triūnōs	triūnās	triūna
ablative	triūnō	triūnā	triūnō	triūnīs
vocative	triūne	triūna	triūnum	triūnī	triūnae	triūna

Related terms

biūnus
trīnitās
triūnitās
ūnitrīnus

References

^ Isidore of Seville (early 7th c. CE) chapter 7, in Etymologiae sive Origines‎^[1] (in Latin): “Trinitas appellata, quod fiat totum unum ex quibusdam tribus, quasi Triunitas, ut memoria, intelligentia et voluntas, in quibus mens habet in se quamdam imaginem divinae Trinitatis.”
^ Hincmar (c. 853-860) De una et non trina deitate (in Latin):
Videlicet quia Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti una est deitas, quae Trinitatis est unitas. In personarum ergo proprietate sanctae et inseparabilis Trinitatis, cum Pater ad Filium, Filius ad Patrem, et Spiritus sanctus ad Patrem Filiumque refertur, relative et quodammodo separabiliter dicitur apud Graecos trias Trinitatis, ut si quaeratur ad quid dicitur Trinitas, respondeatur personarum, vel ad personas, quin Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti, ideoque Trinitas a catholicis dicitur, quod fiat totum unum ex quibusdam tribus, quasi Triunitas, id est ter unitas, et non trina unitas, constans tribus quae numerantur personis unius deitatis, quae ut divisione ita pluralitate caret ac numero, quia ubi nulla est differentia, nulla est, ut Boetius dicit, omnino pluralitas, quare nec numerus, igitur unitas tantum, et unitas in se trina esse non potest.
^ Huguccio Pisanus (after 1150) Derivationes‎^[2] (in Latin): “Item a tris pluraliter hii et hee tres et hec tria, unde trinus -a -um, vel componitur ab unus quasi triunus, unde hec trinitas, quasi triunitas, quia sit unum totum in tribus personis ― Also from Greek τρεῖς (treîs), in the plural, masculine and feminine "tres", neuter "tria", whence "trinus -a -um", or it is compounded with "unus" as if "tri-unus", from which "the trinity", as if "tri-unity", because it is one whole in three persons”