proper noun · neuterthird declension
Lupercal
Lupercal n sg (genitive Lupercālis)
Classical[ɫʊˈpɛr.kaɫ]Ecclesiastical[luˈpɛr.kal]
Meaning
- neutersingularLupercal
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | Lupercal | — |
| genitive | Lupercālis | — |
| dative | Lupercālī | — |
| accusative | Lupercal | — |
| ablative | Lupercālī | — |
| vocative | Lupercal | — |
Lŭpercal, ālis, n. Lupercalis,
I. a grotto on the Palatine Hill, sacred to the Lycean Pan (Lupercus):
gelidā monstrat sub rupe Lupercal, Verg. A. 8, 342; v. Serv. ad loc.: quamquam Velia non est vilior quam Lupercal, Cic. Fam. 7, 20, 1: forsitan et quaeras cur sit locus ille Lupercal, Ov. F. 2, 381.—Hence, A. Lŭpercālis, e, adj., of or belonging to the Lupercalia, Lupercal:
sacrum, Suet. Aug. 31.—B. Hence, plur. as subst.: Lŭpercālĭa, ĭum and ōrum, n., the festival of the Lycean Pan (Lupercus), celebrated in February, in which the priests (Luperci), with their faces painted and only a girdle about their loins (cinctuti, Ov. F. 5, 101), ran about the city striking the women whom they met, a ceremony supposed to make them fruitful:
ad Lupercalia, Cic. Phil. 2, 34, 87; 2, 33, 84: hodierni diei res gestas Lupercalibus habebis, id. Q. Fr. 2, 13, 4; cf. Ov. F. 2, 267 sqq.; Serv. ad Verg. A. 8, 343.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Lupercal ālis, n
Lupercus, a grotto on the Palatine Hill, sacred to the Lycean Pan , V., C., O. — The festival of the Lycean Pan , L.—Usu. plur: ad Lupercalia.
Origins
Substantivation of apocopated Lupercāle, nominative neuter singular of Lupercālis (“of the Lupercālia or Lupercus”). See -al.