cenit

See also: ceniť and cénit

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech cěniti, from Proto-Slavic *cěniti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sɛɲɪt]

Verb

cenit impf

1. to value, to prize

Conjugation

Conjugation of cenit

infinitive cenit, ceniti active adjective cenící verbal noun cenění passive adjective ceněný present forms indicative imperative singular plural singular plural 1st person cením ceníme — ceňme 2nd person ceníš ceníte ceň ceňte 3rd person cení cení — — The future tense: a combination of a future form of být + infinitive cenit. participles past participles passive participles singular plural singular plural masculine animate cenil cenili ceněn ceněni masculine inanimate cenily ceněny feminine cenila ceněna neuter cenilo cenila ceněno ceněna transgressives present past masculine singular ceně — feminine + neuter singular ceníc — plural ceníce —

Related terms

adjectives

• ceněný
• cenný

nouns

• cena
• ceník
• cennost

verbs

• docenit
• ocenit
• podcenit
• přecenit

Further reading

• “ceniti”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “ceniti”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “cenit” in Akademický slovník současné češtiny, 2012–2025, slovnikcestiny.cz
• “cenit”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Latin

Alternative forms

• ceniz

Etymology

From misreading earlier cemt, from Arabic سَمْت (samt, “direction, path”), from Aramaic סֵימִטָא, from Latin sēmĭta.

Pronunciation

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃe.nit/, [ˈt͡ʃɛːnit̪]

Noun

cenit n (indeclinable) (Medieval Latin)

1. (astronomy) zenith (point in the sky vertically above a given position or observer)
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:cenit.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Plato Tiburtinus to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor to this entry?)

Descendants

• → Middle English: cenyth, cenith, senyth, cenit, cinit, senith (learned)
  • English: zenith
• → Old French: cenit m (learned)
  • Middle French: zenith
    • French: zénith

Further reading

• "cenith", 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)
• Paul Kunitzsch, The Arabs and the Stars: Texts and Traditions on the Fixed Stars and Their Influence in Medieval Europe, Routledge (→ISBN), 2017: Latin translators borrowed it as cemt/zemt capitis, and finally cemt/zemt was misread and miswritten, in Latin, as cenit/Zenit.

Middle English

Noun

cenit

1. Alternative spelling of cenyth

Old French

Noun

cenit oblique singular, m (oblique plural ceniz or cenitz, nominative singular ceniz or cenitz, nominative plural cenit)

1. zenith (point in the sky vertically above a given position or observer)

Descendants

• Middle French: zenith
  • French: zénith

Spanish

Alternative forms

• cénit, zenit
• zénit (rare)

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin cenit, from Arabic سَمْت (samt, “direction, path”), from the fuller form سَمْت اَلرَّأْس (samt ar-raʔs, “direction of the head”). The -ni- for -m- is sometimes thought to be due to a misreading of the three strokes, which is plausible, though it could be a mere phonetic approximation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /θeˈnit/ [θeˈnit̪]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /seˈnit/ [seˈnit̪]
• Rhymes: -it
• Syllabification: ce‧nit

Noun

cenit m (plural cenites)

1. zenith

   Synonym: auge

Further reading

• “cenit”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10