leonine

adjective

No English definition recorded for this entry.

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈliːənaɪn/ / /-nɪn/ / /ˈliəˌnaɪn/

adj

Etymology: The adjective is derived from Late Middle English leonin, leonine (“of or pertaining to a person named Leo; specifically Pope Leo IV”), from Latin leōnīnus, from Leo (“man’s name”) (from leo (“lion”): see etymology 1) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Etymology 2, adjective sense 2 (“being or relating to a kind of verse with internal rhyme”) is said to refer to a (possibly apocryphal) medieval monk named Leo or Leonius who composed verse with this characteristic; his identity is uncertain, but the composer Léonin (also known as Leo, Leoninus, or Leonius; flourished 1135–1201) has been suggested. Alternatively, the word may refer to Pope Leo II (c. 611–683): see the c. 1760–1761 quotation. The noun is derived from the adjective.

Of or pertaining to one of the popes named Leo; specifically (in Leonine City), to Pope Leo IV (r. 847–855) who ordered the building of a wall around Vatican Hill to protect what is now Vatican City, or (in Leonine Prayers) to Pope Leo XIV (r. 2025–present).
“The Nineteenth and Tvventieth Days vvere ſpent in ſeeing the Monuments of the Leonine City, the Vatican Church, the Palace and Library.”
Being or relating to a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme); also (by extension), of or relating to modern verse having internal rhyme.
“leonine rhyme”
“In the Church of St. Dominick is a ſmall Picture of the Bleſſed Virgin, vvith the Infant JESUS in her Arms, vvell painted, and yet, appears to have been done in the Iron Age of Painting and other Arts, by the follovving verses, vvrit under it. […] Theſe Leonine Verſes, as plainly appears by them, expreſs a Senſe contrary to the Intention of the VVriter.”

noun

Etymology: Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin leōnīna + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Leōnīna is a feminine singular form of Latin leōnīnus (see etymology 1), and may refer to the use of a lion motif on the coin: see the 1787 quotation.

A 13th-century coin minted in Europe and used in England as a debased form of the sterling silver penny; it was outlawed under Edward I (reigned 1272–1307).
“In the eyghte and twentye yere of his raign in the Chriſtmaſſe ſeaſon Kyng Edwarde ſet foorth a proclamation, forbidding and prohibiting all foraine coine to bee receyued and payde as ſterling mony wythin his dominion, commaunding by the ſame proclamation, that two peeces of them ſhould go for one ſterlying, vntill the feaſt of Eaſtre. There were diuers moneyes in thoſe dayes currant wythin this realme, as Pollardes, Crocards, Staldinges, Egles, Leonines, Steepinges, and all theſe were white monyes, artificially made of ſiluer, copper, and ſulphur, ſo that it was an yll tyme for baſe moneyes, and muche choppyng and chaunging was vſed in buying and ſelling of thynges.”
“[I]n the raign of E[dward] I. there were divers white monies called Pollards, Crocards, Staldings, Eagles, Leonines, and Steepings artificially made of ſilver, copper, and ſulphur, and yet currant within the Realme; and for that two pieces of theſe monies were but of the value of one ſterling. King E. I. by his Proclamation utterly forbad the ſame.”