Etymologically
Log in

nubifer

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 00:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈnuː.bɪ.fɛr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnuː.bi.fer][1]

Forms

nūbifer (feminine nūbifera, neuter nūbiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nūbēs (“cloud”) + -fer (“bearing”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨nūbēs⟩ to Proto-Italic *(s)nouþ-(i-), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ne/oudʰ-, with Welsh nudd as its only direct cognate.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest source is Ovid's Metamorphoses, of the cloud-capped Apennines.[3][5][6] Köbler dates Ovid 43 BC–18 AD.[6]

Semantic evolution

Poetic, it meant of mountains cloud-capped, as in Ovid and Valerius Flaccus, and of winds or seasons, bringing clouds, as in Ovid, Lucan and Silius.[2][3][5]

British Medieval Latin used it for bringing clouds, as of the east wind in Alexander Neckam.[7]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it.[2][6]
  • 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it.[5][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of mountains) Cloud-capped.[2]
  2. (of winds, seasons) Bringing clouds.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ 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 c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ 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