biformis Latin · revision 33573

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=ine-pro *du̯is, la fōrma}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [bɪˈfoːr.mɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [biˈfɔr.mis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bifōrmis''' (neuter bifōrme); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|bi-|fōrma|-is|t1=two-|t2=shape]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|bis|t=twice]] to [[itc-pro|*dwis]] and [[ine-pro|*du̯is|t=twice]], cognate with [[grc|δίς|tr=dís|t=twice]].^(de Vaan 2008) The origin of [[m|la|fōrma]] is unclear: de Vaan suggests that it may go back to a form with /m/ that dissimilated to /f/, and that it and [[grc|μορφή|tr=morphḗ|t=form, shape]] may both have been borrowed from a third language.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in Virgil,^(Köbler 2010) who calls the Minotaur ''proles biformis'', “the two-formed offspring”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It describes beings made of two parts of different kinds, chiefly monsters:^(OLD 2012) besides the Minotaur, Virgil uses it of the Scyllas, and Ovid of the Centaurs Chiron and Nessus and of Hermaphroditus.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of Janus it means two-faced.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short note that it is poetic or post-Augustan prose;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace applies it to the poet who becomes a swan,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Tacitus speaks of ''biformes hominum partus'', human births of double sex.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Late grammarians use it of a rule or a letter with two forms.^(Georges 1913) In medieval British Latin it still means hybrid, double, as in Aldhelm's riddle on the Minotaur.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of the Minotaur.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of Janus and of Centaurs.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of human births of double sex.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 639–709 AD – Aldhelm, of the Minotaur in a riddle.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Having two forms; made of two parts of different kinds, [[m|en|hybrid]] (of monsters).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Two-faced (of [[m|en|Janus]]).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of double sex.^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Late Latin, grammar)'' Having two forms.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bis]]

+ * [[fōrma]]

+ * [[triformis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}