bidens

• duidēns

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈbɪ.dẽːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈbiː.dens]

From bi- (“two-”) +‎ dens (“tooth”).

bidēns (genitive bidentis); third-declension one-termination adjective

1. (literally) two-toothed
2. (figuratively) two-pronged

Third-declension one-termination adjective.

• bidental

• Translingual: Bidens
• English: bident

Ellipsis of bidēns ovis f (“two-toothed sheep or, a two-year-old sheep”), either:^[1]

• referring to a sheep of an age (typically between one and two years old) when only the two front incisors in its lower jaw have been replaced by permanent teeth, which are larger, thus standing out in contrast with the six remaining milk teeth (see this Wikipedia article). Or,
• derived from biennis (“two-year-old”), with epenthetic d as seen in derivatives prefixed with re- or prō- (e.g., redimō, from emō). The term thus originally referred to a two-year-old sheep or any sacrificial animal of that age.

See the quote from Aulus Gellius below, himself referencing already conflicting opinions from earlier authors; more informations at biennis.

bidēns f

1. a sheep of an age suitable for certain sacrifices; also more generally, any sheep or any sacrificial animal
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.57:

     [...] mactant lēctās dē mōre bidentis, [...].

     [Dido and Anna] offer sacrifice — having chosen, in accordance with sacred custom, a two-toothed [sheep] — [...].

   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 3.23:

     Nam quae nivali pascitur Algido
     devota quercus inter et ilices
     aut crescit Albanis in herbis
     victima pontificum securis
     cervice tinguet: te nihil attinet
     temptare multa caede bidentium
     parvos coronantem marino
     rore deos fragilique myrto.

     • 2004 translation by Niall Rudd

       The victim marked out for sacrifice, that feeds on snowy Algidus among the oaks and holm oaks or grows fat in Alban pastures, will stain with its neck the pontiffs’ axes; but it is not for you to pester the little gods whom you decorate with rosemary and brittle myrtle by slaughtering numerous sheep.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.575:

     Viridique e caespite factas
     placat odoratis herbosas ignibus aras
     vinaque dat pateris mactatarumque bidentum,
     quid sibi significent, trepidantia consulit exta

     • 1916 translation by Frank Justus Miller, G. P. Goold

       Then, making an altar of green turf, he appeased the gods with a fragrant burnt-offering, made a libation of wine, and consulted the quivering entrails of the slaughtered victims as to what they might mean for him.

   • c. 45 CE – 96 CE, Statius, Thebaid 3.457:

     Principio fibris pecudumque in sanguine divos
     explorant; iam tum pavidis maculosa bidentum
     corda negant diraque nefas minitantia vena.

     • 2004 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey

       To start, they explore the gods with entrails and in the blood of cattle; even then they take alarm as the spotted hearts of sheep threatening evil with ill-boding vein say them nay.

   • c. 45 CE – 96 CE, Statius, Thebaid 4.416:

     ...circumque bidentum
     visceribus laceris et odori sulphuris aura
     graminibusque novis et longo murmure purgat.

     • 2004 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey

       and purifies all around with mangled entrails of sheep and breath of odorous sulphur and fresh herbs and lengthy incantations.


   • c. 83 CE – 96 CE, Silius Italicus, Punica 13.433:

     Inde tibi, Alecto, tibi, numquam laeta Megaera,
     corpora lanigerum procumbunt lecta bidentum.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae XVI.VI.XII-XV:

     P. autem Nigidius in libro, quem de extis composuit, "bidentes" appellari ait non oves solas, sed omnes bimas hostias, neque tamen dixit apertius, cur bidentes; sed, quod ultro existumabamus, id scriptum invenimus in commentariis quibusdam ad ius pontificum pertinentibus "bidentes" primo dictas, "d" littera inmissa, quasi biennes, tum longo usu loquendi corruptam vocem esse et ex bidennibus bidentes factum, quoniam id videbatur esse dictu facilius leniusque. Hyginus tamen Iulius, qui ius pontificum non videtur ignorasse, in quarto librorum, quos de Vergilio fecit, "bidentes" appellari scripsit hostias, quae per aetatem duos dentes altiores haberent. Verba illius ipsa posui: "Quae "bidens" est" inquit "hostia, oportet habeat dentes octo, sed ex his duo ceteris altiores, per quos appareat ex minore aetate in maiorem transcendisse". Haec Hygini opinio an vera sit, non argumentis, sed oculis iudicari potest.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Third-declension noun (i-stem, ablative singular in -e or -ī).

Nominalization of the adjective, perhaps by ellipsis of a phrase headed by a masculine noun such as ligō m (“mattock, hoe”).^[2] Compare tridēns m.

bidēns m

1. a two-pronged agricultural tool, such as an iron hoe or mattock
   • c. 50 BCE – 19 BCE, Albius Tibullus, Elegies 2.3.6:

     O ego, cum adspicerem dominam, quam fortiter illic
     versarem valido pingue bidente solum
     agricolaeque modo curvom sectarer aratrum

     • 1913 translation by F. W. Cornish, J. P. Postgate, J. W. Mackail, revised by G. P. Goold

       Oh, could I only look on my mistress, how stoutly there with my sturdy hoe would I turn the fertile soil and follow the curved plough as a tiller of the fields

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.693–694:

     Ille suam peragēbat humum, sīve ūsus arātrī
     seu curvae falcis sīve bidentis erat.

     He was working the farm himself, whether there was need of a plow
     or a curved sickle or a two-pronged [hoe].

Third-declension noun (i-stem, ablative singular in -e or -ī).

• “bidens”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “bidens”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "bidens", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “bidens”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “bidens”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “bidens”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin