400–301 BC

Latin words first recorded in the 4th century BC

1 Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 4th century BC, earliest first. Words dated only to part of the century follow the ones with a year.

1. ferocia

   340 BC–273 BC

   It is from Latin ferōx (“fierce”) + -ia. The adjective ferōx is from ferus (“wild”), perhaps as a compound “having a fierce look”; de Vaan thinks it may be one source of the suffix ⟨-ōx⟩. ferus goes…

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