ferratus

Forms

ferrātus (feminine ferrāta, neuter ferrātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ferrum (“iron”) + -ātus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes ferrum as a loanword from an unidentified source, possibly a Phoenician dialect.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus;^[4] the OLD's first quotation is Ennius' line on Discord breaking the iron-bound doorposts and gates of war, which Virgil imitated.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means bound or covered with iron, as Lucretius' and Virgil's iron-rimmed wheels, and tipped or studded with iron, as Virgil's iron-pointed stakes and Livy's iron-tipped spear.^[2][5] Of soldiers it is clad in armour: Horace has Claudius overthrow the armoured columns of the barbarians; jokingly it is chained.^[2] Seneca uses it of water impregnated with iron.^[2] Tacitus has ferrātī as a noun, armoured soldiers.^[6][5] Church Latin glosses it ironclad, pointed, sharp.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of iron-bound doors.^[2][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of iron-rimmed wheels.^[5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of armoured columns.^[2]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of iron-bearing water.^[2]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of armoured soldiers.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bound or covered with iron; tipped or studded with iron.^[2][5][1][7]
2. Clad in armour, armoured; jokingly, chained.^[2]
3. (of water) Impregnated with iron, chalybeate.^[2]
4. ferrātī (plural, as a noun): armoured soldiers.^[6][5]

Word family

• praeferrātus

Related words

• ferrum
• ferreus
• ferrāmentum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson