foederatus

Forms

foederātus (feminine foederāta, neuter foederātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] The Senate's decree on the Bacchanalia has the old spelling foideratei.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin foedus (“treaty”) + -ātus.^[1][4] De Vaan places foedus among the derivatives of fīdō (“to trust”), from Proto-Italic *feiþ-os- (“trust”), and traces the root to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeidʰ-e/o- (“to trust”).^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek πείθομαι (peíthomai, “to be convinced, obey”) and Albanian besë (“faith”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who uses it of states bound by treaty to Rome.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

It names a class of allies bound to Rome by treaty, federated peoples or states, as Cicero's “the federated and pacified soil of the Mamertines”.^[1][2] As a noun, foederati are the allies, and Cicero calls a man the patron of treaties and of allies.^[2][6] Livy uses it figuratively, of having nothing in alliance with someone.^[1][6] Suetonius has federated peoples, and Church Latin glosses it “united, allied, federated”.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of federated states and their patrons.^[2][6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy figuratively.^[1][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of federated peoples.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bound by treaty to Rome, federated, allied.^[1][2][7]
2. (figurative) In alliance, joined.^[1][6]

Noun

1. (masculine plural) The allies, the federated peoples.^[2][6]

Word family

• foederaticus

Related words

• foedus
• fīdō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b 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 c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson