lucifer Latin · revision 35683

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=170–c. 90 BC, Accius|origins=ine-pro *leuk-, la ferō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɫuː.kɪ.fɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈluː.t͡ʃi.fer]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lūcifer''' (feminine lūcifera, neuter lūciferum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+ As a noun, ''Lūcifer'', genitive ''Lūciferī'', masculine, usually capitalised.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|lūx|-fer|t1=light|t2=bearing]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) and Wiktionary takes it as a calque of [[grc|Φωσφόρος|tr=Phōsphóros]].^(Wiktionary) Cicero says that the star of Venus called ⟨Phosphoros⟩ in Greek is called ⟨Lucifer⟩ in Latin when it rises before the sun.^(Lewis & Short 1879) [[m|la|lūx]] goes back to [[ine-pro|*leuk-|t=light]],^(de Vaan 2008) and the second part to [[m|la|ferō|t=to carry]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD and Köbler record it first in Accius,^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) who calls lightning a light-bringing torch (''lucifera lampade'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As an adjective it means “bringing light”: Lucretius uses it of the lit part of the moon and Ovid of the horses of the Moon,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and Cicero mentions Diana as ''Lucifera'', invoked in childbirth.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The masculine became the name of the morning star, the planet Venus seen before sunrise, while the evening star was ''Hesperus'';^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) in myth Lucifer was the son of Aurora and Cephalus and the father of Ceyx.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Poets used it for “morning” or “day”, so that ''paucis Luciferis'' meant “in a few days”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Isaiah's taunt to the king of Babylon, ''quomodo cecidisti de caelo, Lucifer'' (“how you have fallen from heaven, morning star”), was read of the devil's fall, as Bede explains,^(DMLBS) and so the Church Fathers used the name of Satan, the fallen bearer of light.^(Stelten 1995) Prudentius gives the adjective the sense “bringing salvation”,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and medieval writers in Britain applied the noun to bishops and saints and to God or Christ.^(DMLBS) Old English took the word over for Satan and for the morning star.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses the adjective of lightning.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro names the morning star ''Lucifer'' and the evening star ''Hesperus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero gives it as the Latin for the Greek ''Phosphoros''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses the plural for “days”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid makes Lucifer the father of Ceyx.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses the adjective for “bringing salvation”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1169 – Peter of Blois calls Lucifer the first son of pride, a bearer of darkness rather than light.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|light|alt=Light]]-bringing, light-bearing.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative, Late Latin)'' Bringing salvation.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|morning star]], the planet [[m|en|Venus]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(mythology)'' Lucifer, son of [[m|en|Aurora]] and Cephalus and father of Ceyx.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(poetic)'' Morning, day.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' [[m|en|Lucifer]], the fallen [[m|en|angel]], [[m|en|Satan]].^(Stelten 1995)^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A bringer of light, said of a saint or of God or Christ.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|Lucifer]]

+ * [[en|luciferous]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}