Etymologically
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festus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfeːs.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfɛs.tus][1]

Forms

fēstus (feminine fēsta, neuter fēstum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *fēsto- (“holiday”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-s-to- (“divine, holy”), one of several derivatives of an s-stem *dʰeh₁-s- “religious gift, rite”, like fēriae “holidays”, from the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).[2][1] The OLD and TLL compare fēriae and fānum “shrine”.[3][4] The suffixes *-o-, *-yo- and *-to- came to mean “divine” early.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant belonging to a holiday, as diēs fēstus “a feast day” kept for a god or a happy event, in contrast to prōfēstus “working”.[3][6] Of people it meant keeping holiday, as Horace's village at rest with its ox, and of things festal, suitable for festivals, as Virgil's festive garlands on the shrines and Horace's festive banquet.[3]

In Medieval Latin it meant merry, and diēs fēstus a church feast.[7] It survives in Italian festa and French fête, and through Old French feste it is the source of English feast; English festival comes from Medieval Latin fēstīvālis.[1][8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses diēs fēstus.[9][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a festive village.[3][5]
  • 1580s – English festival is recorded as a noun.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. diēs fēstus: a holiday, feast day.[3]
  2. Keeping holiday, celebrating.[3]
  3. Festal, used at festivals.[3]
  4. Festive.[3]

Word family

  • bifestus
  • fēstum
  • profēstus

Usage notes

Fēstus was also a Roman cognomen, as of Sextus Pompeius Festus, the grammarian whose De verborum significatu preserves many old words.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.