praeferox

Forms

praeferōx (genitive praeferōcis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“very”) + ferōx (“fierce, bold”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists ferōx among the derivatives of ferus (“wild”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *χwero- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰueh₁r- (“wild animal”); he suggests that ⟨ferōx⟩ may be a source of the suffix ⟨-ōx⟩, from a compound meaning “having a fierce look”, but admits this can be disputed.^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek θήρ (thḗr, “wild animal”) and Lithuanian žvėrìs (“wild animal”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Livy,^[5] who uses it of men of very impetuous spirit whose attempts the decemvirs had to check.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It means very fierce, impetuous or overbearing, and is said of people and their temper.^[2][7] Lewis and Short think it perhaps not found before Augustus.^[8] Livy uses it of Roman envoys to the Gauls who were more like Gauls than Romans, and Tacitus of Montanus, very fierce in character and ready for revolt, of the Batavians, bold at first and overconfident in success, of foreign peoples slow to make peace, and of Drusus.^[3][8] Suetonius uses it of Pharnaces, made overbearing by many successes in war.^[3][8] Ausonius may use it of elephants.^[3]

Ecclesiastical Latin used it for very cruel,^[9] and Osbern of Gloucester explains it simply as very fierce.^[10]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of impetuous men and of envoys to the Gauls.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the Batavians and of Drusus.^[3][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of Pharnaces.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very impetuous, very high-spirited; very fierce or overbearing.^[2][7][8]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Very cruel.^[9]

Related words

• ferōx
• ferus
• ferōcia

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ 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