feralis Latin · revision 5751

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=derivation|attested=Virgil|origins=ine-pro *dʰeh₁s-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [feːˈraː.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [feˈraː.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fērālis''' (neuter fērāle, comparative fērālior, superlative fērālissimus); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ De Vaan connects it with [[fēriae]] “religious festival” and [[fēstus]] “festive”, from a base *fēs-o- “divine, holy”, [[ine-pro|*dʰeh₁s-o-]]; the derived *fēs-āli- “religious” would then have been narrowed to “funerary”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Walde and Hofmann instead connected words for breathing and spirits, and the OLD compares [[lt|dvasia|t=spirit]] and [[gmh|getwās|t=spectre]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Ancient writers derived it from [[ferō]], from the carrying of the dead or of offerings.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Virgil, whose Trojans set up funeral cypresses before Misenus' pyre.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant connected with death or the dead, funerary, as Ovid's offerings to the dead and the Feralia, the festival of the dead on 21 February, and Columella calls February ''fērālis mēnsis''.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) From this it meant deadly, bringing ruin, as Ovid's fatal gifts, and foreboding death, as Virgil's owl with its funereal song.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In Late Latin a different ''ferālis'', from [[fera]] “wild beast”, meant “of wild beasts, wild”, as in Augustine.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Niermeyer 1976) [[en|feral]] “wild” comes from ''fera'', not from ''fērālis''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of funeral cypresses and of the owl's funereal song.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid describes the Feralia and fatal gifts.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella calls February the month of the dead.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 354–430 AD – Augustine uses ''ferālis'' “of wild beasts”.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of the dead, [[m|en|funeral]], funerary, ''Fērālia'', the festival of the dead.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # Deadly, [[m|en|fatal]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Foreboding death, [[m|en|funereal]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fēriae]]

+ * [[fēstus]]

+ * [[fera]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}