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filiaster

Etymology and origin of the Latin word filiaster

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Derivation
First attested
inscriptions
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*dʰeh₁(y)-)
Etymology tree
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Latin filius
Latin filiaster

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [fiː.liˈas.tɛr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [fi.liˈas.ter][1]

Forms

fīliaster m (genitive fīliastrī, feminine fīliastra); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fīlius (“son”) + -aster.[2][3][1] De Vaan derives ⟨fīlius⟩ from Proto-Italic *fīlio- (“son”), from an adjective Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁i-l- (“suckling, child”), cognate with Faliscan ⟨fileo⟩ “son” and Venetic ⟨filia⟩ “daughter”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Gaffiot cite inscriptions, and Wiktionary calls it Late Latin.[5][6][1]

Semantic evolution

It meant a stepson, the same as prīvignus, with a feminine fīliastra “stepdaughter”.[2][5][6]

Medieval Latin used it for a stepson, a bastard son, a grandson by a daughter, and a son-in-law.[7] British Medieval Latin glossed it with Old English stēopsunu.[8] It survives as Italian figliastro, French fillâtre, Spanish hijastro and Romanian fiastru.[1]

Timeline

  • 2nd century AD – Köbler dates its earliest glosses to this period.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A stepson.[2][5]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A bastard son; a grandson; a son-in-law.[7]
  • patraster
  • matrastra
  • fīlius
  • fīliastra
  • prīvignus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ 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. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Filiaster.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/filiaster. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·