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fractus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word fractus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*bʰr-n-ǵ-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfraːk.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfrak.tus][1]

Forms

frāctus (feminine frācta, neuter frāctum, comparative frāctior, superlative frāctissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is the participle of frangō (“to break”), used as an adjective.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces frangō to Proto-Italic *frang-, with a participle *fragto-, and to Proto-Indo-European *bʰr-n-ǵ- (“to break”), comparing Old High German brehhan (“to break”); the long ⟨ā⟩ of frāctus is due to Lachmann's law.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[5] who speaks of broken and empty threats.[2]

Semantic evolution

Used in the senses of the verb, it is first broken.[2] Of ground it is broken or rugged, as Martial's broken hills, and of sounds rough or grating, as the bees in Virgil whose humming imitates the broken notes of trumpets.[2] Of style it is abrupt or jerky, in Seneca the Elder.[2] Of people and their fortunes it is exhausted, powerless or ruined, and broken in spirit: Cicero reports those who said he was too crushed and dejected.[2] Of gestures and speech it is effeminate or affected, as the loose and mincing movements Cicero describes.[2] Wiktionary adds harsh or sour.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of empty threats, of a crushed spirit and of effeminate gestures.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the broken notes of trumpets.[2][5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial of broken hills.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Broken; of ground, rugged; of sounds, rough, grating; of style, jerky.[2][1]
  2. Exhausted, feeble, powerless; of fortunes, ruined.[2][1]
  3. Broken in spirit, crushed, dejected.[2][1]
  4. Effeminate, affected.[2][1]
  5. Harsh, sour.[1]
  • frāctiō
  • frangō
  • frangibilis
  • frāctūra

Usage notes

A noun frāctus, -ūs, “a breaking”, is found only in a grammatical text that goes under the name of Probus.[6][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Cite this entry

“Fractus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/fractus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·