hiems

Latin

Alternative forms

hiemps (usual but advised against by analogist grammarians)
hyems

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *hiom-, from earlier *xiom- (to differentiate it from a later form *hiom- if the shift */x/ > */h/ in the Italic languages already happened during late Proto-Italic), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéyōm.

Cognate with Ancient Greek χιών (khiṓn, “snow”), χεῖμα (kheîma, “snow”), χειμών (kheimṓn, “snow”), Persian (zemestân), Albanian dimër, Welsh gaeaf, Sanskrit हिम (himá), Hittite 𒄀𒈠𒀭 (gi-ma-an /⁠giman⁠/), Armenian ձմեռ (jmeṙ), and Proto-Slavic *zima.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈhi.emps/, [ˈhiɛmps̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈi.ems/, [ˈiːems]
Note the epenthesis of the homorganic stop [p] required to maintain the place of articulation of the stem-final /m/, as also in sūmpsī, temptō etc.

Noun

hiems f (genitive hiemis); third declension

winter
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.235–236:
  quid, quod hiems adoperta gelū tunc dēnique cēdit, et pereunt lāpsae sōle tepente nivēs
  What of the fact that then frost-covered winter finally gives way, and the snows perish, melted in the warming sun; [...]. (trans. Anne and Peter Wiseman, 2011)
storm, stormy weather, tempest

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hiems	hiemēs
Genitive	hiemis	hiemum
Dative	hiemī	hiemibus
Accusative	hiemem	hiemēs
Ablative	hieme	hiemibus
Vocative	hiems	hiemēs

Synonyms

hībernum

Derived terms

“hiems”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“hiems”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
hiems 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)
hiems in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- in the height of summer, depth of winter: summa aestate, hieme
- winter is at hand: hiems subest