novercalis Latin · revision 34726

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Seneca the Elder|origins=la noverca}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [nɔ.wɛrˈkaː.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [no.verˈkaː.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''novercālis''' (neuter novercāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|noverca|-ālis|t1=stepmother]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan takes [[m|la|noverca]] to be a fairly recent formation from [[m|la|novus|t=new]], with an unclear suffix.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's first example is in Seneca the Elder, who asks why someone looks at a brother with “stepmotherly eyes”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short call it post-classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In the literal sense, “of a stepmother”, Statius has Ascanius hunting in his stepmother's fields, and Juvenal calls Lavinium “stepmotherly”, after Ascanius' stepmother Lavinia.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) More often it means “like a stepmother”, that is, hostile: Tacitus has ''novercalia odia'', stepmotherly hatred, and Apuleius a model of stepmotherly malice.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ British medieval Latin kept the hostile sense, as when William of Malmesbury writes of Saint Edward, killed by a stepmother's guile.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of a stepmother's fields.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus speaks of stepmotherly hatred.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius speaks of stepmotherly malice.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or belonging to a [[m|en|stepmother]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Characteristic of a stepmother; [[m|en|hostile]], malevolent.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[noverca]]

+ * [[novus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}