pharus

Forms

pharus f or m (genitive pharī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Φάρος (Pháros), the name of the island off Alexandria, which Latin also wrote ⟨Pharos⟩.^[1][2][3] Caesar says that the tower on the island took its name from the island,^[4][2] and Köbler calls the further origin of the Greek name unclear.^[5] Etymonline likewise calls the Greek word for a lighthouse of unknown origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caesar (c. 50 BC)^[5] has it first, of the lighthouse: Pharus est in insula turris magna altitudine, “the Pharos is a tower of great height on the island”.^[4][2] The island itself is named in the Bellum Alexandrinum and by Propertius.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Poets used the island's name for the whole of Egypt.^[4][2] The tower of Alexandria gave its name to other lighthouses, such as those of Ostia and Capri;^[7][4] Solinus says that the towers built in harbours to give light were called phari, and Isidore of Seville repeats him.^[7] Christian writers used it figuratively of a person who shines as an example, as Cassian does of an abbot and Venantius Fortunatus of a bishop.^[7]

In Medieval Latin it also named a crown of lights in a church and a blaze of light,^[8] and Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for a candlestick.^[9] The TLL lists its Romance continuants: Italian faro, Old Occitan far, Catalan far and perhaps Spanish faro.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar describes the lighthouse on the island.^[4][5]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius names the island.^[4][5]
• 43/44 AD – Mela describes the island.^[4][2][5]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it for Egypt and for a lighthouse on Capri.^[4][7][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius tells how the tower of the lighthouse on Capri fell in an earthquake.^[2][7][5]
• 417/418 AD – Orosius writes of a very high lighthouse at Brigantia, with the spelling ⟨farus⟩ in old manuscripts.^[7][5]
• c. 360–c. 435 AD – Cassian compares an abbot to a very high lighthouse.^[7][5]
• 1550s – English takes pharos as a word for a lighthouse.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Pharus, the island off Alexandria in Egypt.^[4][2][10]
2. (poetic) Egypt.^[4][2]
3. The lighthouse built on that island by Ptolemy II Philadelphus.^[4][10]
4. Any lighthouse.^[4][7][11]
5. (figurative) A person who shines as a guide or example.^[7]
6. (Medieval Latin) A chandelier or crown of lights in a church.^[8]
7. (Medieval Latin) A blaze or sheen of light.^[8]
8. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A candlestick.^[9]

Related words

• English pharos

Usage notes

The word is feminine, as in Greek;^[4][11] Propertius, Suetonius and Valerius Flaccus treat it as masculine,^[4][11] and the TLL also records a neuter pharum.^[7] Latin used both the Greek ending ⟨-os⟩ and the Latin ⟨-us⟩.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.