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Definition 2025

asinus m ‎(genitive asinī); second declension

a donkey, an ass
- c. 191 BCE, Plautus, Pseudolus, act 1, scene 2:
  Neque ego homines magis asinos umquam vidi.
  At no time did I ever see human beings more like asses.
(figuratively) an ass, an idiot, a dolt, a simpleton, a blockhead
- c. 160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe
  Quid tu autem huic, asine, auscultas?
- c. 70 BCE, Cicero, In Pisonem, chapter 73:
  Quid nunc te, asine, litteras doceam? Non opus est verbis, sed fustibus.
  Why should I now teach you letters, idiot? I want not for words but instead cudgels.

Second declension.

asellus
asinīnus
pons asinorum (bridge of asses)
qui asinum non potest, stratum caedit (he, that cannot find the offender, avenges himself on the unoffending; literally: who can't murder the donkey, murders the cover)

asinus in tegulis (of an odd appearance; literally: a donkey on roof tiles)
asinus ad lyram (of an awkward man; literally: the donkey at the lyre)
sepulturā asini sepelietur (of a contemptible and unworthy man, that somebody will not merit any kind of burial; literally: he will be buried in a donkey's grave)

asinus m ‎(feminine asina, neuter asinum); first/second declension

First/second declension.

Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Number	Singular			Plural
nominative	asinus	asina	asinum	asinī	asinae	asina
genitive	asinī	asinae	asinī	asinōrum	asinārum	asinōrum
dative	asinō	asinae	asinō	asinīs
accusative	asinum	asinam	asinum	asinōs	asinās	asina
ablative	asinō	asinā	asinō	asinīs
vocative	asine	asina	asinum	asinī	asinae	asina

asinus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
asinus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
ASINUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
Félix Gaffiot (1934), “asinus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 57