Etymologically
Log in

calefacio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 00:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ka.ɫɛˈfa.ki.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ka.leˈfaː.t͡ʃi.o][1]

Forms

calefaciō (present infinitive calefacere, perfect active calefēcī, supine calefactum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, suppletive[1] Also contracted calfaciō and calficiō, and Quintilian discusses the difference between calefaciō and calfaciō.[2] The passive is cal(e)fīō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a compound of caleō “to be warm” and faciō “to make”.[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨caleō⟩ to Proto-Italic *kalē-, a stative verb from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlh₁-eh₁- (“to be hot”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of heating.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to make hot, heat, warm, as in Plautus, Lucretius and Cicero; of pungent substances, to produce a sensation of heat in the body, as in Celsus; and figuratively to stir to activity, rouse, as in Cicero's letters, calefac hominem “warm the man up”.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to warm.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of rousing.[2][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it in medicine.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make hot, heat, warm.[2]
  2. (of pungent substances) To produce a sensation of heat.[2]
  3. To stir to activity, rouse.[2]

Word family

  • calefactiō
  • calefactō
  • calefactōrius
  • calefactus
  • concalefaciō
  • excalefaciō
  • incalfaciō
  • percalefaciō
  • praecalfactus
  • recalfaciō
  • excalfaciō

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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson