aquilifer Latin · revision 34620

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 50 BC, Caesar|origins=la aquila, la ferō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [aˈkʷɪ.lɪ.fɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [aˈkʷiː.li.fer]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''aquilifer''' ''m'' (genitive aquiliferī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|aquila|-fer|t1=eagle|t2=bearing]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) literally “eagle-bearer”.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The second element belongs to [[m|la|ferō|t=to carry]],^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) which goes back to [[ine-pro|*bʰer-|t=to carry]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Caesar,^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) who in the ''Gallic War'' writes of the ''aquilifer'' Petrosidius throwing the eagle (''aquilam proiecit'').^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word always named the officer who carried the eagle, the chief standard of a Roman legion.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Caesar uses it again in the ''Civil War'', and it recurs in Valerius Maximus, Suetonius, Tacitus and in inscriptions.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Vegetius defines the aquiliferi as “those who carry the eagle”.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar names the standard-bearer of a legion ''aquilifer''.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it in the ''Histories''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 400 AD – Vegetius explains the title in his manual of the art of war.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|standard-bearer]] of a [[m|en|legion]], who carried its [[m|en|eagle]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}