harēna

harēna etr.-lat. Sand

From an earlier *hasēna (compare Sabine fasēna), possibly from Etruscan. Compare Etruscan 𐌚𐌀𐌑𐌄𐌍𐌀 (faśena, “sand, ashes, human remains”).
Otherwise, as de Vaan suggests, it might be from a verb suffixed with *-es-no-, but none fits and so the etymology is unknown.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /haˈreː.na/, [häˈreːnä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈre.na/, [äˈrɛːnä]

Noun

harēna f (genitive harēnae); first declension

1. sand [ quotations ▼]
2. (poetically) slime, mud, līmus [ quotations ▼]
3. (metonymically) sand, sands, a sandy place, especially—
   1. a sandy desert, waste
   2. the shore of the sea, the beach, coast, strand
   3. the place of combat (strewn with sand) in the amphitheatre, the arena
   4. (transferred) a combat in the amphitheatre; the combatants in the arena
   5. volcanic fire, lava.
4. (figuratively) the place of combat, scene or theatre of any contest (war, a single battle, a dispute, etc.)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	harēna	harēnae
Genitive	harēnae	harēnārum
Dative	harēnae	harēnīs
Accusative	harēnam	harēnās
Ablative	harēnā	harēnīs
Vocative	harēna	harēnae