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pharetra

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pharetra

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
280/260–before 200 BC, Livius Andronicus
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek φαρέτρα
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (φαρέτρα)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpʰa.rɛ.tra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfaː.re.tra][1]

Forms

pharetra f (genitive pharetrae); first declension[1] Apuleius spells it far-.[2] The second syllable is short in Plautus; from Virgil on it is short or long by position.[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φαρέτρα (pharétra, “quiver”).[2][4][1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest quotation is a line attributed to Livius Andronicus by Terentianus Maurus, of a heavy quiver rattling on the back;[2] the TLL notes that the attribution is doubted.[3] Köbler gives Vitruvius.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a quiver for arrows, as Virgil's huntress girt with a quiver and Horace's quiver heavy with poisoned arrows;[2][6] Lewis and Short call it poetic and late.[2][6] Vitruvius uses it for a kind of sundial shaped like a quiver.[2][1]

Church Latin keeps it as “quiver”.[7]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Attributed to Livius Andronicus.[2][3][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of a sundial.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a huntress's quiver.[6][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a quiver full of poisoned arrows.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A quiver.[2][6][1][7]
  2. A kind of sundial.[2][1]

Word family

  • pharetrātus
  • pharetriger
  • pharetrazōnium

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 i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e 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

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pharetra.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pharetra. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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