Tag Archives: twice

Numeral Adverbs

There are four central aspects to the Latin numeral:

  • The cardinal: ūnus, duo, trēs, quattuor
  • The ordinal: prīmus, secundus, tertius, quārtus
  • The distributive: singulī, bīnī, ternī, quaternī
  • The adverb: semel, bis, ter, quater

What is are numeral adverbs?

  • Like English numeral adverbs, Latin numeral adverbs answer the question ‘how many times was something done?’
  • How many times does Scylla engulf the strait each day? Thrice. [She does action x three times.]

[Side note: I first discovered the word ‘thrice’ while reading Homer in 6th grade. It’s probably the only moment of ‘word recognition’ that I can remember having. Does anyone else have stories about learning new words as a kid? I’d love to hear them in the comments.]
Here are the Latin adverbs (they answer quotiēns / quotiēs? How many times?).
1-10

  • once, semel
  • twice, bis
  • thrice, ter
  • four times, quater
  • five times, quīnuiēns (or quīnquiēs, and sic for all numeral adverbs in -ēns)
  • six times, sexiēns
  • seven times, septiēns
  • eight times, octiēns
  • nine times, noviēns
  • ten times, deciēns

11-19

  • eleven times, ūndeciēns
  • twelve times, duodeciēns
  • thirteen times, terdeciēns
  • fourteen times, quaterdeciēns
  • fifteen times, quīndeciēns
  • sixteen times, sēdeciēns
  • seventeen times, septiēnsdeciēns
  • eighteen times, duodēvīciēns
  • nineteen times, ūndēvīciēns

20-99

  • twenty times, vīciēns
  • twenty-one times, semel vīciēns or vīcīens et semel or vīciēns semel (and sic for all numbers 21-99)
  • twenty-two times, bis vīciēns
  • twenty-nine times, ūndētrīciēns
  • thirty times, trīciēns
  • forty times, quadrāgiēns
  • fifty times, quīnquāgiēns
  • sixty times, sexāgiēns
  • seventy times, septuāgiēns
  • eighty times, octōgiēns
  • ninety times, nōnāgiēns

100+

  • 100 times, centiēns
  • 200 times, ducentiēns
  • 300 times, trecentiēns
  • 400 times, quadringentiēns
  • 500 times, quīngentiēns
  • 600 times, sescentiēns
  • 700 times, septingentiēns
  • 800 times, octingentiēns
  • 900 times, nōngentiēns
  • 1000 times, mīliēns
  • 2000 times, bis mīliēns
  • 10,000 times, deciēns mīliēns