Etymologically
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parentalis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 11:10. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pa.rɛnˈtaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pa.renˈtaː.lis][1]

Forms

parentālis (neuter parentāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin parēns (“parent”) + -ālis.[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds the adjective from Ovid on, the neuter plural noun parentālia already in Cicero.[3] Ovid speaks of the parentālēs umbrae, the shades of his dead parents.[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Most uses refer to the Parentālia, the February rites for dead parents and kin: Ovid writes of parentālēs diēs left uncelebrated during long wars, and Florus has parentālia fercula.[2][3][6] Ovid also calls parentālis the yearly fight of the birds that rose from Memnon's pyre, held at his grave in his honour.[7]

Medieval British sources use it plainly for what belongs to or befits a parent: parental property in Archbishop Peckham's letters of 1284, a line of descent, a parent's love.[8] A charter refers it to the first parents, Adam and Eve, and the curse that fell on them.[8] English parental, from the 1620s, comes from it,[9] as does Italian parentale.[6]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of his parents' shades and of the days of the Parentalia.[5][2][4]
  • c. 120 AD – Florus speaks of the dishes of the Parentalia.[2][4]
  • 1284 – Archbishop Peckham uses it of parental property.[8]
  • 1620s – English parental is first recorded.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or belonging to parents, parental.[2][5][10]
  2. Of the Parentālia, the festival of dead parents and kin.[2][5][3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Of the first parents, Adam and Eve.[8]

Word family

  • parentālīcius

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d 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
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson