Etymologically
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furcifer

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfʊr.kɪ.fɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfur.t͡ʃi.fer][1]

Forms

furcifer m (genitive furciferī); second declension[1] There is also a feminine furcifera.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin furca (“fork”) + -fer (“bearing”), one who carries the fork, an instrument of punishment.[2][4][1] A Latin gloss explains it as one who carries forks, and Plutarch says that the man who had carried the fork about was called by this name.[3] De Vaan finds no convincing etymology for furca: the comparisons in Walde and Hofmann require an initial Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰ-, which would give Latin ⟨h-⟩, and he calls a borrowing from another dialect an emergency solution.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a common insult in Plautus, in strings of abuse such as the Pseudolus[4][6] and in many other plays.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus and Terence it is mostly abuse thrown at slaves, “gallows bird”, “rascal”.[4][2] Cicero turns it on free men, Vatinius and Piso.[4] Horace still uses it in the Satires.[4] The OLD also records a feminine ⟨furcifera⟩.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, as abuse of slaves.[4][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, in the same use.[4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of Vatinius and Piso.[4][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, in the Satires.[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. One punished with the fork; a scoundrel, villain, gallows bird (as a term of abuse, mostly of slaves).[2][4][1]

Word family

  • trifurcifer

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de