Etymologically
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semifer

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈseː.mɪ.fɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɛː.mi.fer][1]

Forms

sēmifer (feminine sēmifera, neuter sēmiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēmi- (“half”) + ferus (“wild”).[2][1][3] The prefix goes back to Proto-Italic *sēmi- and to Proto-Indo-European *sēm-i (“in one”), a locative whose meaning shifted from “in one” to “one of the two” and then to “half”.[4] The adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *χwero- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰueh₁r- (“wild animal”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest uses the OLD records are in Cicero's translation of Aratus, of the half-beast body of Capricorn, and in Lucretius, of Pan's half-animal head;[2][5] Köbler dates it from Virgil.[3]

Semantic evolution

It describes creatures that are half human and half beast.[2][6] As a noun it names a centaur, Chiron in Ovid and Statius,[2][6] and Virgil uses it of Cacus[2][6] and of the chest of a Triton.[6] Mela calls the Aegipanes hardly men and rather half-beasts, and Pliny the Elder reports half-beast offspring of men and wild animals in India.[2] Grattius uses it of a breed of dogs crossed with wild animals.[2][6] In a transferred sense it means half-savage, of a race of men in Pliny and of men in Silius Italicus, and half-wild, of the dormouse in Pliny.[2][6] Medieval writers in Britain used it of half-monsters such as Triton and the centaurs, and of half-savage people.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the constellation Capricorn.[2][3]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the head of Pan.[2][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of Cacus.[2][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of half-savage peoples and of the dormouse.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Half man and half beast, half-bestial.[2][6][5]
  2. Half-savage, brutish; of animals, half-wild.[2][6][5]

Noun

  1. A creature half man and half beast, especially a centaur.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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