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timor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word timor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 235–200 BC, Naevius
Ultimate origin
Latin (timeo,-or)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin timeo
Latin timidus
Latin timor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtɪ.mɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtiː.mor][1]

Forms

timor m (genitive timōris); third declension[1] Naevius has an old nominative timōs.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin timeō + -or, from the verb “to fear”.[2][3][1] De Vaan rejects the connection of timeō with words for “stiff”, which Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny hesitantly proposed, and gives it no etymology.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius, who has the nominative timōs.[4][2] Plautus has timōre torpeō, “I'm numb with fear”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Timor is the feeling of fear, dread, alarm;[2][3] Cicero defines it as fear of an evil drawing near.[2][3] By extension it is something that causes fear, and in poetry Fear personified, as in Virgil and Horace.[2] Wiktionary gives a poetic sense “awe, reverence”.[1] Döderlein says metuere and timēre come from threatening danger, while verērī comes from what is venerable.[5]

Church Latin glosses it “fear, dread, alarm, apprehension”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius: timōs.[2][4][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: timōre torpeō.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero defines timor as fear of an approaching evil.[3][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: immīsit … Fugam Teucrīs atrumque Timōrem, “sent Flight and black Fear upon the Trojans”.[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. fear, dread, alarm.[2][3][1][6]
  2. An object or source of fear.[2]
  3. (personified) Fear.[2]
  4. (poetic) Awe, reverence.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Timor.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/timor. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·