flammifer

Forms

flammifer (feminine flammifera, neuter flammiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin flamma (“flame”) + -fer (“bearing”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan derives the noun from ⟨*flag-ma⟩, the stem of flagrō (“to burn”), and traces it to Proto-Indo-European *bʰlg-mh₂- (“flame”);^[4] the suffix belongs to ferō (“to carry”), from *bʰer- (“to carry”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Ennius on,^[4][3][5] in a tragic line that Cicero quotes: “drive this plague from me, this flame-bearing force” (pestem abige ā mē, flammiferam hanc vim).^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL calls it a poetic word, especially liked by Valerius Flaccus and Silius Italicus.^[3] Ovid uses it of the fiery hair of a star and of a torch, Silius of the chariot of the sun, and Lucan of a night lit by torches.^[6][3]

It lived on in medieval poetry and prose: Aldhelm uses it of the flaming sword of the cherubim,^[7] and later writers also use it in the sense “shining”.^[8]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it in a tragedy.^[3][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a star's fiery hair and of a torch.^[6][3][5]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan uses it of a night lit by torches.^[6][5]
• 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it of the sun's chariot.^[6][5]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of the flaming sword of the cherubim.^[7][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Carrying or having flames; fiery, flaming, burning.^[2][6][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) Shining, glowing.^[8]

Related words

• flamma
• flagrō
• flammeus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b 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 Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson