clvii

Theme for the remainder of the month: Alphabet Soup

denique

Definition: finally, at last, in the end; to sum up; (expressing an extreme case) at worst; indeed

Sententia: Catullus 95, l. 1-3 and 7-8

Zmyrna mei Cinnae nonam post denique messem

quam coepta est nonamque edita post hiemem,

milia cum interea quingenta Hortensius uno

[...] (line is lost)

...

(7) at Volusi annales Paduam morientur ad ipsam

et laxas scombris saepe dabunt tunicas

Zmyrna of my Cinna, which finally after 9 harvests and 9 winters [was] published after it was begun, when meanwhile Hortensius in one [year] [has published] 500 thousand

...but the Annals of Volusius [from Catullus 36!] will die at the river Padua itself and will often give tunics having been loosened for mackerels. [i.e. they will be a wrapping around the fish]

For the complete poem, see http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/095.html.

Denique" is a rather common word, used twice in the Aeneid in Books 2 and 12, and over 900 other times according to Perseus. It is not quite definite etymologically, but the Oxford Latin dictionary states that it comes from "de," which gives it a sense of completion and finality, + "-ne," as far as I can tell a sort of adverb-making stem, + "-que."