Etymologically
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feralis

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [feːˈraː.lɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [feˈraː.lis][1]

Forms

fērālis (neuter fērāle, comparative fērālior, superlative fērālissimus); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

De Vaan connects it with fēriae “religious festival” and fēstus “festive”, from a base *fēs-o- “divine, holy”, Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁s-o-; the derived *fēs-āli- “religious” would then have been narrowed to “funerary”.[2][1] Walde and Hofmann instead connected words for breathing and spirits, and the OLD compares Lithuanian dvasia (“spirit”) and Middle High German getwās (“spectre”).[2][3] Ancient writers derived it from ferō, from the carrying of the dead or of offerings.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Virgil, whose Trojans set up funeral cypresses before Misenus' pyre.[2][3] Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant connected with death or the dead, funerary, as Ovid's offerings to the dead and the Feralia, the festival of the dead on 21 February, and Columella calls February fērālis mēnsis.[3][6] From this it meant deadly, bringing ruin, as Ovid's fatal gifts, and foreboding death, as Virgil's owl with its funereal song.[3]

In Late Latin a different ferālis, from fera “wild beast”, meant “of wild beasts, wild”, as in Augustine.[6][7] English feral “wild” comes from fera, not from fērālis.[8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of funeral cypresses and of the owl's funereal song.[3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid describes the Feralia and fatal gifts.[3][6][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella calls February the month of the dead.[6][5]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses ferālis “of wild beasts”.[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of the dead, funeral, funerary, Fērālia, the festival of the dead.[3][6]
  2. Deadly, fatal.[3]
  3. Foreboding death, funereal.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com