Mavors

Forms

Māvors m sg (genitive Māvortis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an old and poetic form of the name of Mars, the god of war.^[2][3] According to Wiktionary it is inherited from Proto-Italic *Māmart- or *Māwortis.^[1] De Vaan notes that Walde and Hofmann took Māvors to be the oldest form of the name, but that the dative ⟨mamartei⟩ on the Lapis Satricanus shows ⟨mamart-⟩ to be older; within Latin the name developed from ⟨māmart-⟩, which matches the Oscan form, through ⟨māvort-⟩ to ⟨mārt-⟩.^[3]

Cognate with Oscan 𐌌𐌀𐌌𐌄𐌓𐌔 (mamers)^[1] and Umbrian marte “to Mars”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it from Plautus on,^[3] as a name of the god Mars.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In poetry it stands for Mars himself: Virgil calls Rome urbs Mavortis, “the city of Mars”.^[2][5] By metonymy it came to mean war or battle, as in Statius,^[4] and Lucan uses it for the planet Mars.^[4] Ausonius still has it for war.^[2][5] The adjective Māvortius “of Mars” is formed from it.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the name.^[3][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Rome urbs Mavortis.^[2][6]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan uses it for the planet Mars.^[4][6]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it for warfare.^[4][6]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it for war.^[2][6]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. Mars, the god of war.^[4][2]
2. (by metonymy) War, battle.^[4][2]
3. The planet Mars.^[4]

Related words

• Mars

Usage notes

A separate noun māvors (also māfors, maforte), a short cloak covering the neck and shoulders, is found in Servius, Isidore and Jerome.^[5][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de