Etymologically
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veneficus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [wɛˈneː.fɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [veˈnɛː.fi.kus][1]

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]

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