aestifer

Forms

aestifer (feminine aestifera, neuter aestiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aestus (“heat”) + -fer (“bearing”).^[2][3][1] The noun aestus belongs with aestās (“summer”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *aiþ- (“fireplace”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)idʰ- (“burning”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius uses it first,^[5] of fire that gives off light and heat, and of the hot southern region from which the Nile comes.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Cicero, in his Aratea, calls the constellation Cancer heat-bringing, and Virgil, Seneca and Statius use it of the Dog Star.^[2][3] Lucan and Silius Italicus apply it to the hot lands of Libya, and Statius to the Nile.^[2][3] Late poets such as Ausonius, Rutilius Namatianus and Martianus Capella still use it of the stars.^[3]

In medieval British verse it describes torrid Syene.^[6]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of fire and of hot regions.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the constellation Cancer.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the Dog Star.^[2][5]
• 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it of the sun and of Libya.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That brings or causes heat;^[2][7] (of a constellation) bringing hot weather.^[2][7]
2. (of places) Hot, sultry, torrid.^[2][7][6]

Related words

• aestus
• aestās

Usage notes

The grammarian Charisius quotes Pliny as arguing that the right form is aestifer, not aestiferus, like other compounds such as aurifer and armiger.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press