monstrum

From Proto-Italic *monestrom. Equivalent to moneō (“advise, warn”) +‎ -trum (suffix forming instrument nouns).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmõː.strũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɔn.st̪rum]

mōnstrum n (genitive mōnstrī); second declension

1. (fantasy, mythology) a divine omen indicating misfortune, an evil omen, portent
2. (metonymic) a monster, monstrosity, whether in size or character
   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 249–251:

     PAMPHILUS: Nisi sī id est quod suspicor: / aliquid mōnstrī alunt; ea quoniam nēminī obtrūdī potest, / ītur ad mē!

     PAMPHILUS: Unless it’s what I suspect: they’re raising some kind of monster — and since she can’t be foisted off on anyone, they’re coming to me!
     (In other words, Pamphilus assumes — to comical extreme — the very worst of the woman he’s been arranged to marry.)

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.244–245:

     “Īnstāmus tamen inmemorēs caecīque furōre,
     et mōnstrum īnfēlīx sacrātā sistimus arce.”

     “We press on nevertheless, heedless, and blinded by passion, and we set the accursed monster on our sacred citadel.”
     (Despite repeated difficulties and multiple warning signs the Trojans move the wooden horse into the city.)

3. (figuratively) a thing that evokes fear and wonder

   Synonyms: ostentum, prōdigium, portentum, mīrāculum, mīrum

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• mōnstrō
• mōnstrōsus/ mōnstruōsus
• mostellum

• “monstrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “monstrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "monstrum", 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)
• “monstrum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 387
• Ranjan Sen (2012), “Reconstructing phonological change: duration and syllable structure in Latin vowel reduction”, in Phonology‎^[1], volume 29, number 3, →DOI, →ISSN, page 36
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) extravagant fictions of fancy: opinionum commenta, ineptiae, monstra, portenta
    
  • (ambiguous) marvellous ideas; prodigies: monstra or portenta
    
  • (ambiguous) it is incredible: monstra dicis, narras
    

Learned borrowing from Latin mōnstrum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔn.strum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔnstrum
• Syllabification: mon‧strum

monstrum n

1. monster (terrifying and dangerous creature)

• monstrum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• monstrum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from Latin mōnstrum.

• IPA^(key): /mǒŋstrum/
• Hyphenation: mon‧strum

mònstrum m anim (Cyrillic spelling мо̀нструм)

1. monster

   Synonyms: čudovište, nȅmān

• “monstrum”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025