fretum Latin · revision 5974

16 Oct 2026, 04:23 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
Initial text

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Naevius}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈfrɛ.tũː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfrɛː.tum]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''fretum''' ''n'' (genitive fretī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ Its origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Schrijver defends *bʰr-eto- “which seethes”, from the root of [[ferveō]] “to boil” and [[fermentum]], as the OLD and Lewis and Short do, but de Vaan sees little support for it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The senses “raging, swell” in Lucretius are derived from “strait”, and the zero grade of the root is hard to explain.^(de Vaan 2008) The Romans themselves connected it with boiling: Varro, quoted by the OLD, and Isidore of Seville say it is named from the likeness of boiling water.^(OLD 2012)^(Isidore)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ De Vaan dates it from Naevius, who has the fourth-declension ''fretus''.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant a place where the sea boils up, a narrow strait, sound or channel, and in particular the Strait of Messina, ''fretum Siculum'', as Cicero's cross set up facing the strait.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) In poetry it meant the sea, the deep, as Accius' surging sea.^(OLD 2012) Lucretius uses it in the derived senses of raging and swell.^(de Vaan 2008) Early writers have a fourth-declension form ''fretus''.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses ''fretus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 170–c. 90 BC – Accius speaks of the surging sea.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the Strait of Messina.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it from boiling.^(Isidore)^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|strait]], sound, channel.^(OLD 2012)
+ # The Strait of Messina.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(poetic)'' The sea, the deep.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[fretēnsis]]
+ 
+ ==Usage notes==
+ It is unrelated to [[frētus]] “relying on”, and to Medieval Latin ''fretum'' “protection”, from ''frētus''.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}