fertum

Forms

fertum n (genitive fertī); second declension^[1] The older spelling ferctum is found in Cato and in the Acts of the Arval Brothers; manuscripts of Festus' epitome have firctum.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[4][2] The TLL compares the adjective Oscan fertalis.^[2] Wiktionary's explanation is that it is inherited from Proto-Italic *ferktom, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to roast, bake”), and so related to frīgō (“to roast, fry”);^[1] Köbler also refers it to that root.^[5] De Vaan, discussing that verb, notes that it cannot be matched with Ancient Greek φρύγω (phrúgō, “to roast”) by regular sound laws.^[6]

Ancient grammarians derived it from ferō (“to bring”), because the cake was often brought to sacrifices.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Cato's treatise on agriculture, where the cake is offered to Jupiter with a prayer that he be honoured by it.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

It was usually paired with struēs, another sacrificial cake:^[4] Fabius Pictor, quoted by Gellius, says a box with struēs and fertum had to stand by the bed of the Flamen Dialis,^[2] and the Acts of the Arval Brothers record expiations made with struibus fertīsque.^[2][3] Persius speaks of trying to win over the god with entrails and a rich cake (opīmō vincere fertō).^[2][8] Georges describes it as made of barley meal with oil and honey.^[3]

Isidore explains it as an offering brought to the altar, from which he derives the name offertōrium,^[2] and medieval glossaries repeat this.^[9]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato gives a prayer offering the cake to Jupiter.^[2][5]
• 34–62 AD – Persius speaks of winning over the god with a rich cake.^[2][5]
• AD 105 – The Acts of the Arval Brothers record an expiation with struēs and ferta.^[2]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore calls it an offering at the altar.^[2][5]
• 8th century – Paul the Deacon's epitome of Festus describes it as a kind of sacrificial cake.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sacrificial cake, usually offered together with struēs.^[4][7][3]
2. (Late Latin) An offering brought to the altar.^[2][9]

Related words

• frīgō

Usage notes

Du Cange also records medieval words spelled fertum meaning a fair (in a charter of a count of Boulogne) and a quarter of a mark (a form of ferto).^[9]

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre