-ivus

Forms

-īvus (feminine -īva, neuter -īvum); first/second-declension suffix^[1]

Etymology

The suffix is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-iHwós, an extended form of *-wós.^[1] Compare Ancient Greek -εῖος (-eîos), from which some Latin forms in -ēus come.^[1] Weiss treats it among the Latin suffixes ending in /w/, and regards the form -tīvus as the productive one, derived from adjectives in /-to-/.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, of about 250–184 BC,^[3] already has captīvus (“captive”), fugitīvus (“fugitive”), aestīvus (“of summer”), festīvus (“jolly”), tempestīvus (“seasonable”) and vacīvus (“unoccupied”).^[2] Most of them have the form in /-tīvus/.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The suffix was attached especially to perfect passive participles, as in nātīvus and vōtīvus, and to words for times, as in aestīvus and festīvus; other bases are rarer, as in nocīvus and redivīvus.^[4] Weiss's examples also include nōminātīvus from Varro and comparātīvus from Cicero.^[2] It is the source of Italian and Spanish -ivo and of English -ive.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses captīvus, fugitīvus and aestīvus.^[2][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro has nōminātīvus.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has comparātīvus and statīvus.^[2][3]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms adjectives from perfect passive participles: captīvus, nātīvus, vōtīvus.^[4]
2. Forms adjectives from other words, especially those for times: nocīvus, redivīvus, aestīvus, festīvus.^[4]

Word family

• -tīvus
• captīvus
• nātīvus
• vōtīvus
• nocīvus
• redivīvus
• aestīvus
• festīvus
• fugitīvus
• tempestīvus
• vacīvus
• statīvus
• nōminātīvus
• comparātīvus

Related words

• English -ive

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Weiss, Michael (2020), Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, 2nd ed., Ann Arbor: Beech Stave
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com