Usus “-ensis” Suffixi Linguae Latinae / The Use of Latin’s “-ensis” Suffix
Latin’s -ensis suffix is not a suffix which simply marks the name of a place, behaving similarly to the -ia in names like Britannia. It is actually an adjective-forming suffix which indicates some sort of connection to a place.
In this essay I explain the use of Latin’s -ensis suffix, give examples of that use, and even show how the use differs from the uses of two other suffixes.
Contents
Use of the -ensis Suffix
Use of the -ia Suffix
Use of the -anus Suffix
Differences among These Suffixes
Apparent Exceptions
Conclusion
Sources
1. Use of the -ensis Suffix
We add the -ensis suffix, or its compounded form -iensis, to names of, and words for, places or localities to create adjectives which mean “of/belonging to” said places or localities. Here is a very short list of ancient and modern examples of adjectives which came about by the use of the -ensis suffix:
forum + -ensis → forensis “of/belonging to the forum”
hortus + -ensis → hortensis “of/belonging to a garden”
Athenae + -iensis → Atheniensis “of/belonging to Athens”
Chicago + -iensis → Chicaginiensis “of/belonging to Chicago”
Milvauchia + -ensis → Milvauchiensis “of/belonging to Milwaukee”
Let us examine the Latin suffix in action. Universitas Albert[a]ensis is the Latin name of the University of Alberta, and we break that down into Universitas, meaning “University,” and Albert[a]ensis, meaning “of Alberta.” In this case, we are dealing with the name of a place containing a word which derives from the name of a place. It would be very easy but very wrong to assume that the -ensis suffix simply marks the University as a place. The suffix really indicates the University’s relationship to the province.
2. Use of the -ia Suffix
If we wanted to use a Latin suffix that actually does mark the name of a place, we would use -ia, which typically appears at the end of the name of a country. Britannia, for example, came about by adding -ia to the name of the people associated with that area, the Britanni. Plautus came up with the comic place names Peredia (“Goobleland”), Perbibesia (“Chugland”), and Unomammia (“Oneboobland”) by adding the suffix to, respectively, the verb peredere, the verb perbibere, and a nominal compound of unus and mamma. In more recent times Latinists produced Iaponia, the name for Japan, from Iapo, which refers to a person from that country. Naturally, we could add the -ensis suffix to any of these place names if we wanted to create an adjective which means “of/belonging to...,” and so: Britanniensis, Perediensis, Perbibesiensis, Unomammiensis, and Iaponiensis.
3. Use of the -anus Suffix
The -ensis suffix has something in common with the very productive -anus suffix in Latin: they both indicate some sort of relationship or connection to something. We can add this -anus suffix, or its compounded form -ianus, to all sorts of nouns to create adjectives which mean “of/belonging to” said nouns. Many adjectives ending in -anus, both ancient and modern, derive from the names of people. Some examples of these adjectives are:
Brutus + -ianus = Brutianus “of/belonging to Brutus”
Cicero + -ianus = Ciceronianus “of/belonging to Cicero”
Nero + -ianus = Neronianus “of/belonging to Nero”
Clusius + -anus = Clusianus “of/belonging to Charles de l'Écluse”
Lamarck + -ianus = Lamarckianus “of/belonging to Jean-Baptiste Lamarck”
Hassler + -[i]anus = Hassler[i]anus “of/belonging to Emil Hassler”
While we can use both -ensis and -anus with the names of places and localities (e.g., Romanus, Romanensis, both from Roma), we do not have the freedom of using these two suffixes interchangeably. The most crucial difference between these two suffixes is the fact that the -ensis suffix is not simply used with names of people and other non-places or non-localities.
4. Differences among These Suffixes
Hypothetical locations might better illustrate the differences among these suffixes. If I had a country named after me, it might be Milleria in Latin. But if I had a building named after me, the Miller Building, the building would be Aedificium Millerianum, not “Aedificium Milleriensis” because while the building is a place, I myself am not a place! Aedificium Milleriensis would indicate that the building is named after a place named Miller. The building itself, however, could serve as the origin of the adjective Milleriensis, in which case the word would indicate an individual’s relationship to the building and not to me. Thus, the phrase conclave Milleriense, for instance, would refer to a room which is within the building. Please note that the Milleriense here has the same relationship to the conclave as the Albert[a]ensis in Universitas Albert[a]ensis has to the Universitas: an adjective which points to a place and agrees with a noun referring to a place.
The diagram below shows how the base word Miller relates to the derivative words which I created and introduced in the previous paragraph:
Miller- (person) → Milleria (place named after person)
Miller- (person) → Millerianus (adjective) → Aedificium Millerianum (place connected with a person)
Miller- (place named after person) → Milleriensis (adjective) → conclave Milleriense (place connected with a place)
5. Apparent Exceptions
I can explain the apparent exceptions to the “not simply used with names of people and other non-places or non-localities” statement that I made above. First, Iuliensis was not formed from the names of Julius Caesar or Augustus directly, but rather from places named after the two men. The suffix can even point to a figurative place or locality rather than to a literal one. So, Antiochensis and Hopkinsiensis derive neither from the names of the Hellenistic king and the American entrepreneur directly, nor from the names of literal places named after the two men, but from the personal treasuries belonging to these men who were financial benefactors. Even the strange word amanuensis (from a manu and -ensis) points to a figurative place where a clerical slave is meant to be doing his task: “within hand reach.”
The diagram below shows how the base words which I mentioned or implied in the previous paragraph relate to these adjectives ending in -ensis:
Iuli- (place named after person) → Iuliensis (adjective) → Iulienses (people connected with a place)
Antioch- (place named after person) → Antiochensis (adjective) → pecunia Antiochensis (thing connected with a place)
Hopkins- (place named after person) → Hopkinsiensis (adjective) → Universitas Hopkinsiensis (place connected with a place)
a manu (phrase implying place) → amanuensis (adjective) → amanuensis (person connected with a place)
6. Conclusion
All of this ultimately shows that Latin makes a distinction between place names which derive from the names of people and words which establish some connection between things and the names of people. The -ensis suffix produces words of the latter category and not words of the former.
7. Sources
Dan H. Nicolson, “Orthography of Names and Epithets: Latinization of Personal Names”;
John Tahourdin White, Latin Suffixes;
Oxford Latin Dictionary;
William T. Stearn, Botanical Latin.
- Ian Andreas “Diaphanus” Miller