fretum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈfrɛ.tũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfrɛː.tum]^[1]

Forms

fretum n (genitive fretī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][1] Schrijver defends *bʰr-eto- “which seethes”, from the root of ferveō “to boil” and fermentum, as the OLD and Lewis and Short do, but de Vaan sees little support for it.^[2][3][4] The senses “raging, swell” in Lucretius are derived from “strait”, and the zero grade of the root is hard to explain.^[2] The Romans themselves connected it with boiling: Varro, quoted by the OLD, and Isidore of Seville say it is named from the likeness of boiling water.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius, who has the fourth-declension fretus.^[2][3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant a place where the sea boils up, a narrow strait, sound or channel, and in particular the Strait of Messina, fretum Siculum, as Cicero's cross set up facing the strait.^[3][7] In poetry it meant the sea, the deep, as Accius' surging sea.^[3] Lucretius uses it in the derived senses of raging and swell.^[2] Early writers have a fourth-declension form fretus.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses fretus.^[3][6]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius speaks of the surging sea.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the Strait of Messina.^[3][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it from boiling.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strait, sound, channel.^[3]
2. The Strait of Messina.^[3]
3. (poetic) The sea, the deep.^[3]

Word family

• fretēnsis

Usage notes

It is unrelated to frētus “relying on”, and to Medieval Latin fretum “protection”, from frētus.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill