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refertus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word refertus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (farciō)

Forms

refertus (feminine referta, neuter refertum, comparative refertior, superlative refertissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is the participle of referciō (“to stuff, cram”), used as an adjective.[1][2][3] The verb is formed from re- and farciō (“to stuff”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *fark-je- (“to stuff”); its only possible cognate, Ancient Greek φράσσω (phrássō, “to fence in”), fits poorly in meaning, and he leaves open that the word is not Indo-European.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[3] who has a house crowded with very learned men.[1]

Semantic evolution

Of places and containers it is crammed or full to bursting, usually with some exaggeration; of places it is also crowded with people, with an ablative or a genitive, as Cicero's Italy full of Pythagoreans and Gaul full of traders.[1][2] Of speeches and books it is crammed with words, ideas or quotations, as in Cicero, Quintilian and Tacitus.[1] Of persons it is loaded with gifts or qualities or charged with feelings, as Cicero's Xerxes, loaded with every reward and gift of fortune.[1]

Church Latin glosses it “crowded”.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a crowded house and of speeches crammed with words.[1][3]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of roads packed with country people.[1][3]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of poems full of insults.[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of places or containers, crammed, full to bursting.[1]
  2. Crowded, packed with people.[1][5]
  3. Of speeches and writings, crammed with.[1]
  4. Of persons, loaded with gifts or qualities; charged with feelings.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Refertus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/refertus. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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