Etymologically
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ferveo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfɛr.we.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfɛr.ve.o][1]

Forms

ferveō (present infinitive fervēre, perfect active ferbuī or fervī, supine fervitum); second conjugation, impersonal in the passive[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ferwe/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeru-e/o- (“to be hot, boil”).[2] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-.[1] Cognate with Old Irish berbaid (“boils”) and Welsh berwi (“to boil”).[2][3] De Vaan argues that the third-conjugation fervere is the older verb, used mainly from Plautus to Virgil, and was replaced by the second-conjugation form, which spread from derivatives such as fervēscere and fervidus.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates fervēre from Varro and the older fervere from Naevius.[2] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC and Varro 116–27 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to be intensely hot, to boil, and of the body to be warm with life, of things to reek with blood.[3][5] Of seas and rivers it meant to seethe, of crowds and bees to swarm or be busy, and of people to be fired with passion or anger.[3] Döderlein distinguishes fervidus, heat near boiling, from calidus, moderate warmth.[6] Lucilius condemned the second-conjugation form and Quintilian the third.[3]

It survives in Italian fervere, Spanish hervir and Romanian fierbe.[1] Its participle gave English fervent in the mid-14th century.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses fervere.[2][4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato has infervēre.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of seething seas.[3][4]
  • mid-14th century – English fervent is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be intensely hot, boil.[3][5]
  2. To be warm with life; to reek (with blood).[3]
  3. (of seas, rivers) To seethe, be turbulent.[3]
  4. To be busy, swarm.[3]
  5. To be fired with passion or excitement.[3]

Word family

  • cōnferveō
  • dēferveō
  • efferveō
  • fermentum
  • fervefaciō
  • fervēns
  • fervēscō
  • fervidus
  • fervō
  • fervor
  • īnferveō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com