inferi Latin · revision 31426

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īnferī''' ''m pl'' (genitive īnferōrum or īnferum); second declension^(OLD 2012)

+ An inscription spells it ''eimferīs''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the masculine plural of [[m|la|īnferus|t=lower, below]], used as a noun.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan traces ⟨īnferus⟩ to [[itc-pro|*enþero-|t=lower]] and [[ine-pro|*n̥dʰero-|t=lower]], cognate with [[xfa|ifra|t=beneath]], [[sa|अधर|tr=ádhara-|t=lower]] and [[got|𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍂|tr=undar|t=under]], and perhaps with [[xtg|anderon|t=of the gods of the underworld]].^(de Vaan 2008) The ⟨f⟩ inside the word may be a dialect form, as the Faliscan word suggests, or may have arisen because ⟨in-⟩ was felt to be the preposition.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates ⟨īnferus⟩ from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) who calls on the “gods and goddesses above and below” in the ''Cistellaria''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the inhabitants of the underworld, both the dead and the gods below, as Cicero's “to have gone to the gods above rather than to those below”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) By metonymy it is the land of the dead, the underworld itself, as Ennius' vast caves of the dead and Apuleius' bars of the underworld.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “those in the underworld, the dead”, and the singular ''īnferus'' as the underworld, hell or Sheol;^(Stelten 1995) in medieval Latin the plural also means hell.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the gods below.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of the caves of the underworld.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of going to the gods below.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of the bars of the underworld.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The inhabitants of the [[m|en|underworld]], the dead and the [[m|en|infernal]] gods.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # The underworld, the land of the dead;^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995) ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|hell]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[īnferus]]

+ * [[īnfernus]]

+ * [[īnfrā]]

+ * [[superī]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}