figurativus

Forms

figūrātīvus (feminine figūrātīva, neuter figūrātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin figūrō (“to shape, form”) + -īvus.^[1][2][3] The verb comes from figūra (“shape, form”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Late Latin word,^[5][1] first found in Cassiodorus, meaning “suitable for figurative expression”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Cassiodorus also uses it of a battle that was symbolic, a prefiguration of a truth fulfilled later,^[6] and Primasius has it in the sense “symbolic”.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it meant producing an image or giving form, as in Albertus Magnus of the formative power of seeds;^[7][8] figurative or symbolic, in rhetoric tropical; imagined or fictitious, deceptive; and superficial, consisting only of an outward appearance.^[7][8] English figurative comes from it in the late 14th century through Old French.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it of what can be expressed figuratively, and of a symbolic battle.^[2][3][6][9]
• c. 560 AD – Primasius uses it for “symbolic”.^[3][9]
• late 14th century – English borrows it through Old French as figurative.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Figurative, symbolic.^[5][3][6][8]
2. (rhetoric) Tropical, using tropes.^[1][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) Giving shape, formative; producing an image.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Imagined, fictitious; deceptive.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) Superficial, consisting only of outward appearance.^[8][1]

Related words

• English figurative

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d e f 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
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de