legifer

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɫeː.ɡɪ.fɛr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlɛː.d͡ʒi.fer]^[1]

Forms

lēgifer (feminine lēgifera, neuter lēgiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lēx (“law”) + -fer (“bearing”).^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot cites Virgil's Aeneid, of Ceres, and Köbler Ovid.^[4][5] Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC and Ovid 43 BC–18 AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Poetic, it meant lawgiving, as of Minos in Ovid's Amores and lēgifera Cerēs, Ceres as foundress of the social life of mankind, in Virgil.^[2][3][4] As a noun, from Lactantius on, it was a lawgiver.^[4][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant lawgiving, and as a noun a lawgiver, as also in Medieval Latin.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of Ceres.^[4][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Minos.^[3][5]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it as a noun.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lawgiving.^[2]

Noun

1. A lawgiver.^[4][6]

Related words

• lēx
• ferō
• lēgislātor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill