Etymologically
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legifer

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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]

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