Etymologically
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mortifer

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɔr.tɪ.fɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔr.ti.fer][1]

Forms

mortifer (feminine mortifera, neuter mortiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)[1] A form mortiferus is also found, as in Celsus and Columella.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin mors (“death”) + -fer (“bearing”), “death-bringing”, from the stem of mors and the root of ferō (“to carry”).[2][4][1] Wiktionary takes it as a calque of Ancient Greek θανατηφόρος (thanatēphóros, “death-bringing”).[1] De Vaan traces mors to Proto-Italic *morti- (“death”) and Proto-Indo-European *mr-ti- (“death”), from the verb continued in morior (“to die”); ferō goes back to *bʰer- (“to carry”).[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius.[6]

Semantic evolution

It means bringing death, fatal or deadly: Cicero uses it of a deadly cup, a fatal disease and a mortal wound, and Virgil of deadly War on the threshold.[2][3] Celsus writes of a pain that is severe but not fatal.[3] Propertius applies it loosely to a funeral couch.[2] Church Latin glosses it deadly, fatal.[7]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.[6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius has the nominative mortifer.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a deadly cup and a mortal wound.[3][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of deadly War.[3][6]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of a funeral couch.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Bringing death, fatal, deadly, lethal.[2][3][7][1]
  2. Connected with a death, as a funeral couch.[2]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b 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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson