genius

See also: génius and Genius

English

Etymology

From Latin genius (“the guardian spirit of a person, spirit, inclination, wit, genius”, literally “inborn nature”), from gignō (“to beget, produce”), Old Latin genō, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵenh₁-; see genus.

Pronunciation

Noun

genius (plural geniuses or genii)

  1. (eulogistic) Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art etc.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
      In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.
  2. Extraordinary mental capacity.
  3. Inspiration, a mental leap, an extraordinary creative process.
    a work of genius.
  4. (Roman mythology) The guardian spirit of a place or person.
    • Milton
      the unseen genius of the wood
    • Tylor
      We talk of genius still, but with thought how changed! The genius of Augustus was a tutelary demon, to be sworn by and to receive offerings on an altar as a deity.

Synonyms

  • See also Thesaurus:genius

Antonyms

Translations

Adjective

genius (not comparable)

  1. (informal) ingenious, very clever, or original.
    What a genius idea!

Further reading

  • genius in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • genius in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • "genius" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 143.

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈɡe.ni.us/, [ˈɡɛ.ni.ʊs]

Noun

genius m (genitive geniī); second declension

  1. the deity or guardian spirit of a person, place, etc.
  2. (with respect to the enjoyment of life) the spirit of social enjoyment, fondness for good living, taste, appetite, inclinations
  3. (of the intellect) wit, talents, genius (rare)

Inflection

Second declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative genius geniī
genitive geniī
genī1		 geniōrum
dative geniō geniīs
accusative genium geniōs
ablative geniō geniīs
vocative genī geniī

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Quotations

  • Catullus[,] Tibullus and Pervigilium Veneris, 1921, page 328f. containing Albius Tibullus III, XI, 9f. = IV, V, 9f. with a translation into English by J. P. Postgate:
    magne Geni, cape tura libens votisque faveto,
    si modo, cum de me cogitat, ille calet.
    Great Genius, take this incense with a will, and smile upon my prayer, if only when he thinks on me his pulse beats high.

Descendants

References

  • genius in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • genius in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • genius in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
  • genius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
  • genius in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • genius in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
  • genius in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
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