LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
adverb

bifāriam

bifāriam (not comparable)

Meaning

  1. not comparableon two sides, in two parts or places
  2. not comparabledouble, twofold
  3. not comparablerarein both ways, senses

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Duplex · Duplum · Geminus · Dupliciter · Bifariam

1. Duplex (δίπλαξ) denotes double, as distinct magnitudes to be counted: duplum (διπλοῦν) as continuous magnitudes to be weighed or measured. Duplex is used as an adjective, duplum as a substantive. Quintil. viii. 6, 42. In quo et numerus est duplex et duplum virium. 2. In duplex (as in διπλοῦς), doubleness is the primary, similarity and equality the secondary notion; in geminus (as in δίδυμος), the notion of similarity and equality is the primary, that of doubleness the secondary one. In Cic. Part. 6. Verba geminata et duplicata vel etiam sæpius iterata; the word geminata refers to the repetition of the same notion by synonymes; duplicata to the repetition of the same word. 3. Dupliciter is always modal; in two different manners, with double purpose; bifariam is local, in two places, or two parts. Cic. Fam. ix. 20. Dupliciter delectatus sum literis tuis; compare with Tusc. iii. 11. Bifariam quatuor perturbationes æqualiter distributæ sunt. (v. 281.)

bĭfārĭam, adv., v. bifarius, A.

Origins

Classically derived from fārī, as is nefārius. A feminine adverbial accusative from a lost adjective, *bifārius. According to Michael Weiss, from Proto-Italic *dwiðāzios, from Proto-Indo-European *dwi-dʰh₁o- (“rendered in two, bipartite”) (see tribus and Sanskrit multiplicatives in -धा (-dhā) such as Sanskrit द्विधा (dvidhā, “twofold”)) + Proto-Italic *-āzios (Latin -ārius). To account for the word-internal f which would not arise from Proto Italic *ð before a and after i, as for īnferus with *en, the word is assumed to be, by metanalysis, a compound with *dwi-. Compare also Ancient Greek διφάσιος (diphásios, “two-fold, of two kind, double”), regarded by some as the etymon of, or cognate with, bifāriam. The adjective bifārius is later attested in Ammianus Marcellinus (330-391/400 AD) as a back-formation.

In English words that came into English from bifāriam

  • bifariousbifārius

Quick answers

What does bifāriam mean in Latin?
bifāriam, a adverb, means “on two sides, in two parts or places; double, twofold; in both ways, senses”.