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effetus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word effetus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*dheh₁-to-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fetus
Latin effetus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛfˈfeː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [efˈfɛː.tus][1]

Forms

effētus (feminine effēta, neuter effētum); first/second-declension adjective[1] It is also spelled ecfētus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + fētus (“having given birth”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces fētus to Proto-Italic *fēto- and Proto-Indo-European *dheh₁-to- (“having given birth”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Lucretius.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is first an animal that has brought forth young or a plant that has borne fruit, as Columella's bitch that runs short of milk after giving birth.[2][6] Hence it means worn out with bearing, and of soil exhausted by crops, as in Virgil's advice to scatter ashes on exhausted fields.[2] More widely it is worn out or feeble: Cicero says that a lustful youth hands on a worn-out body to old age.[2] Mela uses it of Spain as barren by nature.[2] Lewis & Short note the spelling effētus, not effoetus.[6] English took it in the 1620s as effete.[7]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a worn-out body.[2]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of exhausted fields.[2]
  • 43/44 AD – Mela of Spain.[2][5]
  • 1620s – Borrowed into English as effete.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. That has brought forth young or borne fruit.[2][6]
  2. Worn out with bearing;[2][1] (of soil) exhausted, no longer productive.[2][1]
  3. Worn out, exhausted, feeble, effete.[2][1]
  4. Barren, sterile.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Effetus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/effetus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·