triformis Latin · revision 34467

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=65–8 BC, Horace|origins=la fōrma}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''trifōrmis''' (neuter trifōrme); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|tri-|fōrma|t1=three|t2=form, shape]], with the adjective ending ⟨-is⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The origin of [[m|la|fōrma]] is unclear: de Vaan suggests it may go back to a dissimilated ⟨*morma⟩, and that it and [[grc|μορφή|tr=morphḗ|t=form, shape]] may have been borrowed from a third language, or the Greek word passed into Latin through another language such as Etruscan.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in Horace,^(Köbler 2010) who calls the Chimaera ''triformis'' in the ''Odes''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is mainly poetic.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It describes beings with three forms or natures: Horace and Ovid use it of the goddess Diana, who was also Luna and Hecate, and an inscription calls her ''Delia virgo triformis'';^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Seneca's tragedies use it of Cerberus, Hecate and Geryon.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) It also means threefold: Ovid calls the world ''triformis'', which Lewis and Short explain as made up of air, earth and water and Georges as sky, sea and underworld.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Medieval writers in Britain use it of the Chimaera and other three-shaped monsters, and Bede of a threefold rule for the date of Easter.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the Chimaera and of Diana.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid speaks of the ''triformis dea'' and of the threefold world.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of Cerberus and Geryon.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Medieval Latin – Bede uses it of a threefold rule for Easter.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Having three forms, shapes or natures, [[m|en|triform]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # [[m|en|threefold|alt=Threefold]], [[m|en|triple]], having three parts.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[triformitas]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}