Etymologically
Log in

feritas

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 19:01. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfɛ.rɪ.taːs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfɛː.ri.tas][1]

Forms

feritās f (genitive feritātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from ferus “wild” with the suffix -tās.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Cicero, whom he dates 81–43 BC.[3]

Semantic evolution

Of animals it was wildness, the untamed state, as in Livy, and fierceness, as in Ovid and Seneca's lions and tigers that never lose it; of people brutality, savagery, as in Cicero; and of places wildness, as in Ovid and Pliny the Elder, who says the Black Sea was once called Axenus from its inhospitable wildness.[2][4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant savagery, fierceness.[5] British Medieval Latin used it also as a place-name.[6] It survives in Italian ferità and French fierté.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of savagery.[2][3]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of wildness.[2][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of places.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Wildness, untamed state.[2]
  2. Ferocity; brutality, savagery.[2]
  3. The wildness of a place.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press