Etymologically
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feriatus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [feː.riˈaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fe.riˈaː.tus][1]

Forms

fēriātus (feminine fēriāta, neuter fēriātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fēriae (“holidays”) + -ātus in the OLD's analysis;[2] Wiktionary takes it as the perfect participle of fērior (“to rest from work”), and the TLL leaves open which of the two it is.[1][3] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *fēsio- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-s-io- (“divine, holy”), a derivative of an s-stem Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-s- meaning a religious gift or rite.[4] Cognate with Oscan fiísíais (“holidays”) and Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Plautus,[4][5] who uses it of a sword left idle, which must not complain that it has long been carried feriata.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is keeping holiday: Varro uses it of those who had not kept their Fornacalia, Cicero has quoniam feriati sumus, “since we are on holiday”, and of gods idling in inactivity, and Horace has the Trojans male feriatos, ill-fated in their feasting.[2][6] With ab it means free from: Cicero has men a negotiis publicis feriati.[2][6] The Praenestine calendar has the people crowned and in festival dress, and Gellius says the Flamen Dialis is feriatus every day.[2] Plautus, Martial and Pliny the Younger use it of things lying idle, Pliny of a toga left unworn.[2][6] Dies feriatus is a holiday in Seneca the Elder, Seneca and Pliny the Younger.[2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means festive,[7] and in medieval Latin dies feriatus is a feast day and dies feriati the Easter week.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of an idle sword.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of keeping a festival.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero has quoniam feriati sumus.[2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca has feriatis diebus.[2][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius says the Flamen Dialis keeps holiday every day.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Keeping holiday, on holiday; free from (with ab).[2][6]
  2. Dressed for or showing the signs of a festival.[2]
  3. Unused, idle, unemployed.[2][6]
  4. dies feriatus: a holiday, feast day;[2][8] (Medieval Latin) dies feriati: the Easter week.[2][8]
  5. Festive, holiday-like.[2][7]

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 m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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 d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill