mensa

See also: Mensa and mēnsa

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin mēnsa (“table, altar”). Doublet of mesa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛn(t)sə/

Noun

mensa (plural mensae or mensas)

1. In planetary geology, a large mesa-like area of raised land.
2. (Roman Catholicism) The upper surface of an altar.
   • 1993, B. Don Taylor, The Complete Training Course for Altar Guilds, →ISBN, page 32:

     Some churches also have an altar stone, a separate stone set into the mensa containing a relic of a saint, although this is becoming extremely rare.

Anagrams

• namés, names, Seman, amens, manes, neams, ñames, mesna, Means, Manes, manse, means

Esperanto

Etymology

From menso +‎ -a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmensa]
• Rhymes: -ensa
• Hyphenation: men‧sa

Adjective

mensa

1. mental

Highland Popoluca

Noun

mensa

1. Archaic form of mesa.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mēnsa (“table”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛn.sa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnsa
• Hyphenation: mèn‧sa

Noun

mensa f (plural mense)

1. refectory
2. a meal, food on the table
3. a table
4. (uncommon) a Christian altar

See also

• tavola, tavolo
• altare

Anagrams

• manse

Latin

Alternative forms

• mēsa (proscribed)

Etymology 1

Probably a nominalization of the feminine form of the perfect passive participle mēnsus (“measured”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.sa/, [ˈmẽːs̠ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.sa/, [ˈmɛnsä]

Noun

mēnsa f (genitive mēnsae); first declension

1. a table
2. a table of food; meal, course, feast
3. an altar (sacrificial table)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mēnsa	mēnsae
Genitive	mēnsae	mēnsārum
Dative	mēnsae	mēnsīs
Accusative	mēnsam	mēnsās
Ablative	mēnsā	mēnsīs
Vocative	mēnsa	mēnsae

Derived terms

• mēnsārius

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: mēsa (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → English: mensa (learned)
  • → French: mense
  • → German: Mensa
  • → Spanish: mensa, menso (possibly)
  • → Italian: mensa
  • → Occitan: mensa
  • → Slovene: míza

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Participle

mēnsa

1. inflection of mēnsus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Participle

mēnsā

1. ablative feminine singular of mēnsus

References

• “mensa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mensa”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mensa in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• mensa in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to load the tables with the most exquisite viands: mensas exquisitissimis epulis instruere (Tusc. 5. 21. 62)
    
  • a table bountifully spread: mensae exstructae
    
  • the dessert: secunda mensa (Att. 14. 6. 2)
    
  • (ambiguous) the intercalary year (month, day): annus (mensis, dies) intercalaris
    
• “mensa”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mensa in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “mensa”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Spanish

Adjective

mensa

1. feminine singular of menso