Etymologically
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funestus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [fuːˈnɛs.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [fuˈnɛs.tus][1]

Forms

fūnestus (feminine fūnesta, neuter fūnestum, comparative fūnestior, superlative fūnestissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1] Comparative fūnestior, superlative fūnestissimus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin fūnus (“funeral, death”) + -tus.[2][3][1] De Vaan finds no clear etymology for ⟨fūnus⟩: if a gloss form ⟨foinus⟩ is genuine, it might come from the root of “to be afraid”, Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂-, but he finds this not compelling.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are Accius, of mourning and of pollution by death.[2] Köbler dates Accius 170–c. 90 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant concerned with death or mourning, funereal, and of persons in mourning; ritually unclean through contact with death, polluted, as in Accius; lamentable, grievous; and in Cicero fatal, deadly, destructive, and Livy speaks of annālēs velut fūnestī, annals as if of mourning.[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means mournful, dismal, deadly.[7] It survives as Italian and Spanish funesto and French funeste.[1]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the grievous and the deadly.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of mourning.[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of death or mourning, funereal.[2]
  2. Polluted by contact with death.[2]
  3. Grievous, lamentable.[2]
  4. Fatal, deadly, destructive.[2][8]

Word family

  • fūnestō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press