veneficus Latin · revision 33493

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la venēnum, la faciō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [wɛˈneː.fɪ.kʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [veˈnɛː.fi.kus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''venēficus''' (feminine venēfica, neuter venēficum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|venēnum|-ficus|t1=poison, potion|t2=making]], with the suffix ⟨-ficus⟩ from [[m|la|faciō|t=to make, do]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan explains [[m|la|venēnum]] as [[itc-pro|*wenes-no-]], a derivative of [[m|la|venus|t=desire, love]];^(de Vaan 2008) 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”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who uses the noun of a sorcerer and, in the feminine, as a term of abuse.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) As a noun, masculine ''venēficus'' and feminine ''venēfica'', it is both a sorcerer or witch and a poisoner;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero asks what poisoner, gladiator or robber in all Italy would not admit to being an intimate friend of Catiline,^(OLD 2012) and Horace and Ovid use the feminine of a witch.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a sorcerer or magician,^(Stelten 1995) and medieval writers in Britain list ''venēficī'' among diviners and enchanters to be shunned.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a sorcerer and as an insult.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(Georges 1913)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of poisoners.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses the feminine of a witch.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has ''verba venēfica''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of bewitching eyes.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 738 – A papal letter in the correspondence of Boniface lists ''venēficī'' with enchanters.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of [[m|en|sorcery]], [[m|en|magical]], bewitching.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|poisonous|alt=Poisonous]], of poisoning.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|sorcerer]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995) (feminine ''venēfica'') a [[m|en|sorceress]], [[m|en|witch]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

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

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[venēnum]]

+ * [[venēfica]]

+ * [[venēficium]]

+ * [[faciō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}