scaena

Latin

Alternative forms

• scēna

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σκηνή (skēnḗ, “stage, scene”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈskae̯.na/, [ˈs̠käe̯nä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈʃe.na/, [ˈʃɛːnä]

Noun

scaena f (genitive scaenae); first declension

1. stage
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.471–472:

     [...] aut Agamemnonius scaenīs agitātus Orestēs
     armātam facibus mātrem et serpentibus ātrīs [...].

     [...] or [like] Agamemnon’s [son] Orestes, tormented onstage [by his dead] mother [who is] armed with torches and black snakes, [...].
     (A poetic plural reference to theatrical performances of the tragedy.)

2. scene
3. theatre
4. (transferred) natural scenery, background, backdrop
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.164–165:

     [...] tum silvīs scaena coruscīs
     dēsuper; horrentīque ātrum nemus imminet umbrā.

     Further on [there is] a backdrop with waving woods above; a dark forest overhanging and trembling with shade.

5. publicity, the public eye
6. euphemism for death with dēcēdo

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	scaena	scaenae
Genitive	scaenae	scaenārum
Dative	scaenae	scaenīs
Accusative	scaenam	scaenās
Ablative	scaenā	scaenīs
Vocative	scaena	scaenae

Descendants

• Catalan: escena
• → German: Szene
  • → Russian: сцена (scena)
• Italian: scena
  • → English: scena
• Middle French: scene
  • → English: scene
  • French: scène
    • → Dutch: scène
  • Norman: scène
• Portuguese: cena
• Romanian: scenă
• → Serbo-Croatian: сцена, scena
• Spanish: escena

References

• “scaena”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “scaena”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• scaena in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to introduce a character on the stage: in scaenam producere aliquem
    
  • to come upon the stage: in scaenam prodire
    
  • to reappear on the stage: in scaenam redire
    
  • to retire from the stage: de scaena decedere
    
  • to bring a thing upon the stage: in scaenam aliquid inducere