Etymologically
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mirificus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [miːˈrɪ.fɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [miˈriː.fi.kus][1]

Forms

mīrificus (feminine mīrifica, neuter mīrificum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mīrus (“wonderful”) + -ficus (“making”).[2][3][1][4] De Vaan traces mīrus to Proto-Italic *smeiro- and Proto-Indo-European *sméi-ro- (“laughter”), with Vine's suggestion that the neuter ⟨mīrum⟩ is the oldest form.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Terence,[4][5] whose Phormio has the superlative, "a most wonderful deed".[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means causing wonder or admiration, often simply wonderfully good or remarkably great:[2] of things in Accius and in Cicero, who exclaims at a wonderful opportunity and mentions wonderful thanks.[2] Of persons Cicero has o mīrificum Dolabellam meum!, "what a marvel my Dolabella is!", and Gellius a man wonderful in learning.[2][6] Besides Terence's mīrificissimus, Augustine has the superlative mīrificentissimus.[3] In Church Latin it means wonderful or marvellous.[7]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence, in the superlative.[2][4][5]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius.[2]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of opportunities and of people.[2][6]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine has mīrificentissimus.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Causing wonder, wonderful, marvellous, extraordinary; wonderfully good.[2][6][1][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson