sterilis

Forms

sterilis (neuter sterile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] Gellius and Festus have a first/second-declension feminine sterila, and Lucretius a neuter plural sterila.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“lacking, sterile”), through a Proto-Italic stem ⟨*ster-eli-⟩ or ⟨*ster-ī-⟩; the ⟨-ili-⟩ may be a diminutive suffix.^[4][1][5] Cognate with Sanskrit स्तरी (starī́-, “barren cow”), Ancient Greek στεῖρα (steîra, “barren cow or woman”) and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍉 (stairō, “infertile”); in other languages the word went on from “barren” to “not yet having given birth” and “young animal”.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author,^[4] who in the Truculentus calls a lover “barren of gifts”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first of women and female animals that bear no offspring, as Lucretius' women long barren in several marriages, of males (Varro's cocks of Tanagra), and of eggs.^[2] Of plants and land it is barren or yielding no crops, as Varro's olive tree and the walnuts that make the edge of a farm barren, and of seasons marked by a lack of crops.^[2][3] With the genitive or ablative it is lacking in a quality, as Persius' “barren of truth”.^[2] By transfer it is yielding no gift or reward, of money bearing no interest, and unprofitable or futile.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “sterile, barren, unfruitful”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a lover barren of gifts.^[2][4][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of barren trees and land.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of barren women.^[2][5]
• mid-15th century – Borrowed into English, partly by way of Old French, as sterile.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of women, animals) Barren, sterile, (of eggs) infertile.^[2][1][3]
2. (of plants, land, seasons) Bearing no fruit, unproductive.^[2][1]
3. Lacking (in a quality).^[2]
4. Yielding no reward; unprofitable, futile.^[2][1]

Word family

• sterilescō
• sterilicula
• sterilitās

Related words

• fēcundus
• English sterile

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com