Etymologically
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inferius

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inferius1 lower down

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩːˈfɛ.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱˈfɛː.ri.us][1]

Forms

īnferius (comparative adverb of īnfrā)[2][3]

Etymology

The adverb is a comparative, from Latin īnfrā (“below”),[3][4][5] with the form of the neuter of īnferior (“lower”).[2][6] The positive is itself a contracted ablative feminine singular of īnferus (“below, lower”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Vitruvius;[7] the dictionaries cite it from Ovid on, meaning “lower down, further down”.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is used of position, “at or to a lower level”, in Ovid's Metamorphoses and of comets that move lower in Seneca's Natural Questions.[3][4] Seneca also uses it figuratively, of bringing virtue down to a lower level.[3] Quintilian applies it to a lower pitch of the voice.[4]

It also refers to a later point in a text: Ovid writes persequar inferius, “I shall go into it further on”, and the jurist Gaius sicut inferius apparebit, “as will appear below”.[2][4]

Timeline

  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it.[7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a lower position and of a later passage in a text.[3][4][2][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of comets moving lower and, figuratively, of virtue brought down.[3][4][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the voice.[4][7]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius refers with it to a later part of his Institutes.[2][7]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Lower down, to or at a lower level;[2][3][6] inferius quam, lower than.[2][3][6]
  2. (figurative) To a lower degree; of the voice, lower in pitch.[3][4]
  3. Later on, further on (in a narrative or text), below.[2][4]

inferius2 sacrificial

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩːˈfɛ.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱˈfɛː.ri.us][1]

Forms

īnferius (feminine īnferia, neuter īnferium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

The adjective is, apparently, from Latin īnferō (“to bring in, offer”) + -ius,[2][8][3] formed like arferia.[2][9] The verb is a compound of in- and ferō (“to carry”),[1] which goes back to Proto-Italic *ferō and Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry”).[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cato's De agri cultura, in the phrase vīnum īnferium, wine offered to the gods in a sacrifice.[2][8][7]

Semantic evolution

Georges explains vīnum īnferium as the portion of wine dedicated to the gods before the wine itself was tasted.[11] The jurist Trebatius uses it as well,[4] and it reappears in late writers such as Arnobius and Servius.[8][3] Lewis and Short call it ante- and post-classical.[8]

Georges treats the noun īnferiae, offerings to the dead, as its substantivised plural.[11]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato prescribes vīnum īnferium in offerings.[2][8][7]
  • 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it.[8][7]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius uses it in his commentary on the Aeneid.[3][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Offered in a sacrifice, sacrificial (of wine).[2][8][11]

Usage notes

Paulus' epitome of Festus explains inferium as what was placed below the rim of the bowl in a sacrifice;[9] Isidore also comments on the word.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn