fētus¹

Meaning

1. rarea bearing, birth, bringing forth
   Nunc de Alcumena dudum quod dixi minus, hodie illa pariet filios geminos duos alter decumo post mense nascetur puer quam seminatust, alter mense septumo; eorum Amphitruonis alter est, alter Iovis: verum minori puero maior est pater, minor maiori. Iamne hoc scitis quid siet? Sed Alcumenae huius honoris gratia pater curavit uno ut fetu fieret,c. 190 BCE – 185 BCE, Plautus, Amphitruo 485–488
2. poeticoffspring, young, progeny
   Atque ut intellegamus nihil horum esse fortuitum et haec omnia esse opera providae sollertisque naturae, quae multiplices fetus procreant, ut sues, ut canes, iis mammarum data est multitudo, quas easdem paucas habent eae bestiae, quae pauca gignunt.45 BCE, Cicero, De natura deorum 2.128
   Nec mora, traxit Ityn, veluti Gangetica cervae lactentem fetum per silvas tigris opacas, utque domus altae partem tenuere remotam, tendentemque manus et iam sua fata videntem et 'mater! mater!' clamantem et colla petentem ense ferit Procne, lateri qua pectus adhaeret,8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 6.638–644
3. fruit, product; bearing, produce
   Venit hiems: teritur Sicyonia baca trapetis, glande sues laeti redeunt, dant arbuta silvae; et varios ponit fetus autumnus et alteTranslation by James B. Greenough Winter is come: in olive-mills they bruise The Sicyonian berry; acorn-cheered The swine troop homeward; woods their arbutes yield; So, various fruit sheds Autumn, and high up On sunny rocks the mellowing vintage bakes.c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Vergilius, Georgicon 2.519
4. figurativelygrowth, production
5. New Latina fetus
   Postremo, comparatione inter excerebrationem fetus et sectionem caesaream ac partum praematurum artificialem facta, nobis apparuit, containdicatam esse excerebrationem:[…]Finally, the comparison having been completed between the excerebration of the fetus, the caesarean section, and premature induced birth, excerebration has appeared to us to be contraindicated: […]1842, Franciscus Arv[idus] Snellman, Dissertatio Academica Excerebrationis Fetus in Partu Legem Examinatura, Helsingforsiae: Ex officina typographica Frenckelliana, page 30:

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Declension

Origins

From Proto-Italic *fētus, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-tu-s, from *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle, nurse”) + *-tus; alternatively, formed within Italic, equivalent to a verb *feō + *-tus (Latin -tus (forming action nouns)).

Related words

Meaning

1. adjectivepregnant, full of young
2. adjectiveof one who has recently given birth, of one that has newly delivered; nursing
   dumque petit latebrās fētae catulōsque leaenae,And while he was seeking the hiding places and the cubs of a nursing lioness, he himself became the bloodstained prey of the Libyan wild [beast]. (See Hyas.)8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.177–178
3. adjectivefigurativelyfruitful, fertile, productive, teeming with, full of, big
   [...] Scandit fātālis māchina mūrōs / fēta armīs.“The engine of our fate climbs the walls, teeming with armed warriors.” (The wooden horse entering Troy will soon “give birth” to the Greek soldiers hidden in its “womb.” See also: machina.)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 2.237–238

Declension

Origins

From Proto-Italic *fētos, from earlier *θētos, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-to-s, from *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to nurse, suckle”) + *-tós, see also Sanskrit धयति (dháyati, “to suck, suckle”), Avestan 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬥𐬎 (daēnu), Old Armenian դիեմ (diem, “to suck mother's milk”), Lithuanian žįsti (“to suckle, nurse”), and Old Church Slavonic доити (doiti, “to breastfeed, suckle”).

Related words