femina

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈfeː.mɪ.na]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfɛː.mi.na]^[1]

Forms

fēmina f (genitive fēminae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *fēmanā-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-mh₁n-h₂- (“the one nursing”), originally a middle participle of the root *dʰeh₁- (“to suckle”), “she who gives suck”.^[2][1][3][4] From the same root come fēlīx, fētus and fīlius.^[4][1]

From the root, cognate with Sanskrit धयति (dháyati, “sucks”), Ancient Greek θηλή (thēlḗ, “nipple”) and Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (daddjan, “to suckle”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2][5] and Ennius writes that “a good woman washed Tarquinius”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a woman, as Cicero's mother, “a woman of the first rank”, and a wife, as in Propertius and Columella.^[4] Used as an adjective it meant female, as in the old royal law's agnum feminam “a ewe lamb” and Ennius' lupus femina “she-wolf”.^[4] Pliny even speaks of male and female carbuncles.^[6]

In grammar it was the feminine gender.^[1] Medieval Latin used it for a wife, a female serf and a female vassal,^[7] and Catalan charters for a free woman acting at law.^[8] It survives as Italian femmina, Spanish hembra and Portuguese fêmea.^[1] English female came through Old French from Medieval Latin femella, a diminutive, and feminine from femininus.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a woman.^[4][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses lupus femina, “she-wolf”.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a woman of rank.^[4][5]
• 879 – A Catalan charter uses it of a woman acting at law.^[8]
• early 14th century – English female is first recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman.^[4][10]
2. A wife.^[4][1]
3. (of animals, attributive) Female, she-.^[4][1]
4. (grammar) The feminine gender.^[1]
5. (Medieval Latin) A female serf; a female vassal.^[7]

Word family

• effēminō
• fēmella
• fēminal
• fēmineus
• fēminīnus
• fēminō
• masculofemina
• effēminātē
• effēminātus
• fēmellārius
• fēminātus
• fēminīnē

Related words

• fēcundus
• fēlīx
• fēnus
• fētus
• fīlius
• English female
• English feminine

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes femina, woman by sex, as bearing children, the opposite of mas, from mulier, woman as the weaker sex.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper