ferus1
Meaning
- adjectivewild, savage, fierce, cruel
prīma ferōs habitūs hominī dētrāxit: ab illā
[Venus] first divested men of savage habits: from her came fancy attire and clean care of oneself.8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 4.107–108 - adjectiveuncivilized, uncultivated
- adjectiveuntamed, rough
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
quī apud hominēs nōn vīvit, sed in silvīs; lupus ferus est.indomitus, saevussaevus, nōn mānsuētusChoosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Pæne · Prope · Fere · Ferme
Pæne and prope serve to soften an expression that is much too strong, and as a salvo to an hyperbole; pæne, in opp. to plane, is translated ‘almost;’ prope, ‘nearly;’ whereas fere and ferme serve only as a salvo to the accuracy of an expression, like ‘about.’
Animal · Animans · Bellua · Bestia · Pecus · Fera
1. Animal and animans are the animal as a living being, including man; animal, with reference to his nature, according to which he belongs to the class of living animals, in opp. to inanimus, like ζῶον; animans, with reference to his state, as still living and breathing,1 in opp. to exanimus; bellua, bestia, and pecus, as irrational beings, in opp. to man, and bellua and pecus, with intellectual reference, as devoid of reason, in peculiar opp. to homo, Cic. N. D. ii. 11; bestia and fera, with moral reference, as wild, and hostile to man. 2. Bellua (from βλάξ) denotes, particularly, a great unwieldy animal, as the elephant, whale, principally sea-monsters; pecus, a domestic animal, particularly of the more stupid kinds, as a bullock, sheep, in opp. to the wild; bestia, a destructive animal, particularly those that are ravenous, as the tiger, wolf, etc., in opp. to birds, Justin, ii. 14, like θηρίον; fera (φῆρες), a wild animal of the wood, as the stag, wolf, tiger, in opp. to domestic animals. Curt. ix. 10. Indi maritimi ferarum pellibus tecti piscibus sole duratis, et majorum quoque belluarum, quos fluctus ejecit, carne vescuntur. And Tac. G. 17. (iv. 291.)
1 Hence animalium cadavera, not animantium.
Declension
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | ferus fericulus | fera fericula | ferum fericulum |
| genitive | ferī fericulī | ferae fericulae | ferī fericulī |
| dative | ferō fericulō | ferae fericulae | ferō fericulō |
| accusative | ferum fericulum | feram fericulam | ferum fericulum |
| ablative | ferō fericulō | ferā fericulā | ferō fericulō |
| vocative | fere fericule | fera fericula | ferum fericulum |
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | ferī fericulī | ferae fericulae | fera fericula |
| genitive | ferōrum fericulōrum | ferārum fericulārum | ferōrum fericulōrum |
| dative | ferīs fericulīs | ferīs fericulīs | ferīs fericulīs |
| accusative | ferōs fericulōs | ferās fericulās | fera fericula |
| ablative | ferīs fericulīs | ferīs fericulīs | ferīs fericulīs |
| vocative | ferī fericulī | ferae fericulae | fera fericula |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- haec (fere) dixit
- he spoke (very much) as follows.
- haec Ciceronis fere
- this is very much what Cicero said.
- ferarum ritu pugnare
- to fight like lions.
- vocabula idem fere declarantia
- synonyms.
- ut fit, ita ut fit, ut fere fit
- as usually happens.
- his fere verbis, hoc fere modo convertere, transferre
- to translate freely.
- in eum sermonem incidere, qui tum fere multis erat in ore
- to talk of a subject which was then the common topic of conversation.
- homines, gentem a fera agrestique vita ad humanum cultum civilemque deducere (De Or. 1. 8. 33)
- to civilise men, a nation.
quae vero et quam varia genera bestiarum vel cicurum vel ferarum! Cic. N. D. 2, 39, 99; cf.: si hoc apparet in bestiis, volucribus, nantibus, agrestibus, cicuribus, feris, id. Lael. 21, 81: apes (opp. cicures), Varr. R. R. 3, 16, 19: immanes et ferae beluae, Cic. N. D. 2, 64, 161: fera et immanis belua, id. Ac. 2, 34, 108; Nep. Dat. 3, 2; Curt. 5, 4, 19; Suet. Aug. 67: leones, Hor. Epod. 7, 12: equus, id. S. 1, 5, 57: caprae, Verg. A. 4, 152: palumbus, Plin. 30, 7, 20, § 60 et saep.: arbores, Plin. 14, 20, 25, § 127: oliva, Stat. Th. 6, 7: fructus, Verg. G. 2, 36: odor (with solitudinem redolens), disagreeable, Plin. 12, 17, 37, § 76.—immani et vastae insidens beluae, quocumque vult, inflectit illam feram, Cic. Rep. 2, 40; cf. id. Rosc. Am. 26, 71: neque ulla re longius absumus a natura ferarum, id. Off. 1, 16, 50: ipsae ferae nullo insequente saepe incidunt (in plagas), id. ib. 3, 17, 68: multa in ea (silva Hercynia) genera ferarum nasci constat, Caes. B. G. 6, 25 fin.: neque homini neque ferae parcunt, id. ib. 6, 28, 2: formidolosae dum latent silvis ferae, Hor. Epod. 5, 55: more ferarum, id. S. 1, 3, 109: Romulea fera, the she-wolf that suckled Romulus, Juv. 11, 104; a sea-monster, Ov. M. 4, 713; 719; a serpent, Hyg. Astr. 2, 42; the ant, Mart. 6, 15, 2; the constellations of the Great and Little Bear: magna minorque ferae, id. Tr. 4, 3, 1; Vulg. Gen. 37, 20.— Prov.: ferae inter se placidae sunt, morsuque similium abstinent, Sen. de lra, 2, 8, 3.—in locis feris arbores plura ferunt, in his, quae sunt culta, meliora, wild, uncultivated, Varr. R. R. 1, 7, 7; cf.: ferus, ager incultus, Paul. ex Fest. p. 86 Müll.: montes, Verg. E. 5, 28: silvae, Hor. S. 2, 6, 92.— opp. mansuetus, humanus): ipsis in hominibus nulla gens est neque tam mansueta neque tam fera, quae non, etc., Cic. Leg. 1, 8, 24; cf.: nulla gens tam fera, nemo omnium tam immanis, cujus, etc., id. Tusc. 1, 13, 30; id. Phil. 3, 9, 23: ex feris et immanibus mites reddidit et mansuetos, id. Inv. 1, 2, 2; Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 21, § 51: ferus atque agrestis, id. Rosc. Am. 27, 74: inhumani ac feri testes, id. Rep. 1, 37 fin.; cf. Ter. And. 1, 5, 43: ferus et ferreus, Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 3, 3: quam ferus et vere ferreus ille fuit! Tib. 1, 10, 2; v. ferreus: nemo adeo ferus est, ut non mitescere possit, Hor. Ep. 1, 1, 39: Britanni hospitibus feri, id. C. 3, 4, 33: Numantia, id. ib. 2, 12, 1: Iberia, id. ib. 4, 5, 27: animi hominum, studiis bellandi jam immanes ac feri, Cic. Rep. 2, 14; id. Fragm. ap. Non. 342, 33 (Rep. 2, 23 ed. Mos.): ingenium immansuetum ferumque, Ov. M. 15, 85; cf.: (ostendere ejus) mores feros immanemque naturam, Cic. Rosc. Am. 13, 37: homines a fera agrestique vita ad hunc humanum cultum civilemque deducere, id. de Or. 1, 8, 33: victus, id. Inv. 1, 2, 2: moenera militiaï, Lucr. 1, 29: munera belli, id. 1, 32: hiems, Ov. Tr. 1, 1, 42; cf.: diluvies, Hor. C. 3, 29, 40: sacra (of death by sacrifice), Ov. M. 13, 454: dolores lenire requie, id. ib. 13, 317.—With supine: ferum visu dictuque (= δεινὸν ἰδεῖν καὶ λέγειν), Sil. 1, 175.—No comp. or sup.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰweh₁r- or *ǵʰwē̆r- (“wild animal”). The intermediate steps are uncertain: *Possibly from Proto-Italic *xʷeros, from earlier *ǵʰweh₁rós, with PIE *-ē- becoming Proto-Italic *-e- because of a shortening of PIE unaccented long vowels before a resonant (a version of a sound change called "Dybo's Law"). This change is also supposed to explain the short vowel in vir. In contrast to vir (from *wiros), this term retained the final -rus, possibly due to analogical influence from the form fera. *Alternatively, Sihler considers the adjective a back-formation from the feminine noun fera (“wild animal, wild beast”), and treats it as possible that Latin continues an original short e-grade of the PIE root.
- Catalanfer
- Italianfiero
- Occitanfèr
- Frenchfierfrom Old French fer
- Englishferefrom Old French fer
- Englishfiercefrom Old French fer
- Spanishfiero
- Asturianfieru
- Galicianfero
- Normanfiar