noverca Latin · revision 31068

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *néwos}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [nɔˈwɛr.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [noˈvɛr.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''noverca''' ''f'' (genitive novercae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a derivative of [[m|la|novus|t=new]], “the new one”, with an unclear suffix.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The OLD suggests an extended stem ⟨*nouer-⟩, comparing [[grc|νεαρός|tr=nearós|t=young]],^(OLD 2012) and Wiktionary compares [[xcl|նոր|tr=nor|t=new]],^(Wiktionary) but de Vaan argues that a stem ⟨*neur-⟩ would have given Latin ⟨*nūr-⟩, so that the word is probably a recent Latin formation.^(de Vaan 2008) ⟨Novus⟩ goes back to [[itc-pro|*nowo-]] and [[ine-pro|*néwos|t=new]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler give Plautus as its first author.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) In the ''Pseudolus'' to complain “to a stepmother” is to speak to deaf ears.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a stepmother, as Cicero's woman who was at once mother-in-law, stepmother and rival, and Phaedra, whom Hippolytus' father suspected him of loving.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It most often alludes to the cruelty and hostility traditionally ascribed to stepmothers: Horace's victim asks why his tormentor glares at him like a stepmother, Ovid's Hypsipyle fears Medea as a stepmother, and Quintilian speaks of stepmothers crueller than those of tragedy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively nature itself is a harsh stepmother to man in Pliny the Elder, and Velleius calls Italy the stepmother of those not born there.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Land surveyors used the plural ''novercae'' for poorly draining ditches and rough ground.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in a proverb.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a stepmother.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of a stepmother's hostile look.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of nature as a stepmother.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|stepmother]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A harsh, hostile stepmother; a land to which one is a stranger.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(plural, surveying)'' Ditches that drain badly; rough ground.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[novercālis]]

+ * [[novercor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[novus]]

+ * [[vītricus]]

+ * [[prīvignus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Apud novercam querī'', “to complain to a stepmother”, is a proverb for complaining in vain.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}