aetherius Latin · revision 31195

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=grc αἰθέριος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ae̯ˈtʰɛ.ri.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [eˈtɛː.ri.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''aetherius''' (feminine aetheria, neuter aetherium); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''aethereus'', which Saalfeld's Tensaurus calls a false form.^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|αἰθέριος|tr=aithérios|t=of the upper air]], from [[m|grc|αἰθήρ|tr=aithḗr|t=upper air]], the source of [[m|la|aethēr]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)^(Saalfeld 1874)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its earliest examples in the OLD are Cicero's poem on his consulship, “Jupiter inflamed with ethereal fire”, and Lucretius, whose stars are “fixed to the ethereal vaults”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is of the upper air, the sky or the heavens, the home of the gods, and Jupiter is the ''pater'' or ''rēx aetherius'', as in Ovid.^(OLD 2012) It is also situated in or borne through the sky, as Lucretius' shout scattered among the clouds, and of mountains reaching to the sky, as Tibullus' Taurus.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ It is heaven-sent or divine, as Virgil's bees with “a draught of the ether”, and of persons divinely inspired.^(OLD 2012) Opposed to the underworld it is of the world of the living, as Lucretius' ''aetheriās vītālis … aurās'', the life-giving air of day.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it “airy, of heaven, ethereal”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the stars and of the air of the living.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of Jupiter's ethereal fire.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of the divine draught of bees.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of the upper air or heavens, [[m|en|heavenly]], [[m|en|ethereal]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''rēx aetherius'', Jupiter.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # In the sky, aloft; lofty.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Heaven-sent, divine; divinely inspired.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Of the world of the living (as against the underworld).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aethēr]]

+ * [[caelestis]]

+ * [[aerius]]

+ * [[en|ethereal]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}