letifer

Forms

lētifer (feminine lētifera, neuter lētiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^[1] Also spelled lēthifer.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin lētum (“death”) + -fer (“bearing”).^[3][1][4] De Vaan suggests that lētum is a substantivized past participle Proto-Indo-European *leh1-to- (“let go”), from “letting go” to “death”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Catullus on,^[4][6] who has letifero belli certamine, “in the deadly contest of war”.^[4][2] It means death-bringing.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means bringing death, fatal, deadly, chiefly in poetry: Virgil has a deadly year and a death-dealing bow, Ovid a deadly blow and a deadly garment, and Statius a deadly snake.^[2][4] In prose the TLL finds it first in Columella, who uses it of rabies.^[4] Juvenal applies it to autumn.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant leading to the perdition of the soul,^[7] and in British sources it is also used as a noun for the devil, “the deadly one”.^[8]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus has letifero belli certamine.^[4][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a year and of a bow.^[2][4][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella is the first to use it in prose.^[4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bringing death, deadly, fatal, death-dealing.^[3][2][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Leading to the perdition of the soul.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) The deadly one, the devil.^[8]

Related words

• lētālis
• lētō
• lētum
• mortifer

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press