-tūrus

Meaning

1. morphemeending of the future active participle

Origins

Possibly derived ultimately from a form of Proto-Indo-European *-tus (found in the supine suffix -tum, -tū) followed by Proto-Indo-European *-rós (adjective-forming suffix). The suffix *-tūro- is only attested in Latin, so its creation may postdate Proto-Italic. Fortson 2007 hypothesizes that the starting point was pre-Latin *futūros (“going to be”) (Latin futūrus), built on the instrumental singular *futū of a pre-Latin abstract noun *futus by analogy to preexisting time-adjectives ending in *-ros, such as *mātūros (“early, soon”) (Latin mātūrus) and *sēros (“late”) (Latin sērus). Fortson mentions and rejects the alternative etymologies deriving it from the agent noun suffix -tōr-, or from the supine followed by a lost infinitive *esom (with an assumed development from *-tū *esom to *-tūrom, followed by reanalysis as an adjective).