Vitumnus

Latin

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”) + *-mnos (“agent noun suffix”), and cognate to vīvō (“to live”) and vīta (“life”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /u̯iːˈtum.nus/, [u̯iːˈt̪ʊmnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /viˈtum.nus/, [viˈt̪umnus]

Proper noun

Vītumnus m (genitive Vītumnī); second declension

1. a minor Roman god that gives life to a child in the womb; a god of quickening

Usage notes

• Vītumnus had the epithet vīvificātor (“life-giver”) and was associated by Augustine with Sentīnus, the giver of sentience.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	Vītumnus	Vītumnī
genitive	Vītumnī	Vītumnōrum
dative	Vītumnō	Vītumnīs
accusative	Vītumnum	Vītumnōs
ablative	Vītumnō	Vītumnīs
vocative	Vītumne	Vītumnī

Further reading

• “Vitumnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Vitumnus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.