effrenus

Forms

effrēnus (feminine effrēna, neuter effrēnum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] A third-declension form effrēnis occurs in Pliny the Elder and Seneca.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + frēnum (“bridle”), with the adjective ending ⟨-us⟩.^[2][4][1] De Vaan traces frēnum to Proto-Italic *frēno- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰr-eh₁-no- (“holding”), but discusses other proposals: Ernout and Meillet's link with frendō (“to gnash”), which he finds possible but not straightforward, and Walde and Hofmann's link with frētus (“relying on”), which he prefers.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short find it no earlier than the Augustan writers, mostly in poetry, where it stands for effrēnātus.^[3] Köbler records it first in Livy,^[6] who uses it literally: the master of the horse orders the bridles taken off the horses and, spurring on, charges on an unbridled horse, effrēnō equō.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Its figurative use, of people not held in check, appears in Virgil's gens effrēna virum, an unruly race of men.^[2][3] Of feelings and actions it means unrestrained: Ovid has effrēnō captus amōre, seized by unbridled love, and Statius speaks of unbridled youth.^[2][3] Seneca uses the form effrēnis of rabid, unbridled passion.^[4][3]

The late panegyrists still use it, of the Moors and of horses frantic with pain.^[4] Köbler also records it in medieval charters and glosses.^[6]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil calls a people effrēna, unruly.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a horse without a bridle.^[2][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid writes of unbridled love.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses the form effrēnis.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a horse, unbridled, not controlled by reins.^[2][3]
2. (figurative) Of people, unruly, headstrong.^[2][4]
3. Of feelings and actions, unrestrained, uncontrolled.^[2][3]

Related words

• frēnum
• effrēnātus
• īnfrēnus

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften