triformis

Forms

trifōrmis (neuter trifōrme); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tri- (“three”) + fōrma (“form, shape”), with the adjective ending ⟨-is⟩.^[2][1] The origin of fōrma is unclear: de Vaan suggests it may go back to a dissimilated ⟨*morma⟩, and that it and Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape”) may have been borrowed from a third language, or the Greek word passed into Latin through another language such as Etruscan.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Horace,^[4] who calls the Chimaera triformis in the Odes.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is mainly poetic.^[5] It describes beings with three forms or natures: Horace and Ovid use it of the goddess Diana, who was also Luna and Hecate, and an inscription calls her Delia virgo triformis;^[5][6] Seneca's tragedies use it of Cerberus, Hecate and Geryon.^[5][6] It also means threefold: Ovid calls the world triformis, which Lewis and Short explain as made up of air, earth and water and Georges as sky, sea and underworld.^[5][6] Medieval writers in Britain use it of the Chimaera and other three-shaped monsters, and Bede of a threefold rule for the date of Easter.^[7]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the Chimaera and of Diana.^[5][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid speaks of the triformis dea and of the threefold world.^[5][6][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of Cerberus and Geryon.^[5][4]
• Medieval Latin – Bede uses it of a threefold rule for Easter.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having three forms, shapes or natures, triform.^[2][5]
2. Threefold, triple, having three parts.^[5][7]

Word family

• triformitas

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c 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