veneficus

Forms

venēficus (feminine venēfica, neuter venēficum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin venēnum (“poison, potion”) + -ficus (“making”), with the suffix ⟨-ficus⟩ from faciō (“to make, do”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains venēnum as Proto-Italic *wenes-no-, a derivative of venus (“desire, love”);^[4] Walde and Hofmann took its first meaning to be “love potion”, which would place the word in the language of sorcery, while de Vaan allows a neutral “poisonous” that developed from “with desire” through “addictive” to “harmful”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Plautus,^[4][5] who uses the noun of a sorcerer and, in the feminine, as a term of abuse.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means “of sorcery” or “of poison”: Ovid has verba venēfica, “bewitching words”, and Pliny the Elder writes of men with a bewitching gaze.^[2][3][6] As a noun, masculine venēficus and feminine venēfica, it is both a sorcerer or witch and a poisoner;^[2][3] Cicero asks what poisoner, gladiator or robber in all Italy would not admit to being an intimate friend of Catiline,^[2] and Horace and Ovid use the feminine of a witch.^[3][6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a sorcerer or magician,^[7] and medieval writers in Britain list venēficī among diviners and enchanters to be shunned.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a sorcerer and as an insult.^[4][5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of poisoners.^[2][3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses the feminine of a witch.^[3][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has verba venēfica.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of bewitching eyes.^[2][5]
• c. 738 – A papal letter in the correspondence of Boniface lists venēficī with enchanters.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of sorcery, magical, bewitching.^[2][3][1]
2. Poisonous, of poisoning.^[3][8]

Noun

1. A sorcerer;^[2][3][7] (feminine venēfica) a sorceress, witch.^[2][3][7]
2. A poisoner.^[2][3]

Related words

• venēnum
• venēfica
• venēficium
• faciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ 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