Etymologically
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altrix

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈaɫ.triːks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈal.triks][1]

Forms

altrīx f (genitive altrīcis, masculine altor); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin alō (“to nourish, rear”) + -trīx, the feminine counterpart of altor (“nourisher”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces alō to Proto-Italic *ale/o- (“to feed”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-e/o-, with a cognate in Old Irish no-t·ail (“to feed, raise”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pacuvius has it first, of a homeland: Calydonia altrix terra exsuperantum virum, “Calydon, land that nursed men of surpassing strength”.[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is a foster mother or wet nurse, as in Ovid's Metamorphoses.[2] Cicero calls the earth our nourisher in his Timaeus, and in the Pro Flacco a land that is parent, nurse and fatherland of a people.[2][5] Virgil calls a land the nurse of Ulysses, and Martial of the earth that feeds truffles.[5][2] Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic.[5] It also works as an adjective, “nourishing”, feminine only in the singular.[1]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius calls Calydon the land that nursed its men.[2][5][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the earth as the nourisher of all.[2][5][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of the nurse of Ulysses.[5][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a foster mother.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A foster mother, wet nurse, nurse.[2][1]
  2. Of the earth and the like, a nourisher, sustainer.[2][5]
  3. Of a country, a motherland, homeland.[2][1]

Adjective

  1. Nourishing.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press