Etymologically
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fertum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɛr.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɛr.tum][1]

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]

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