noun
prīmĭtĭae
Meaning
- the first things of their kind
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
prīma initiaprīmitiae -ārum (f) — in IVLIANVS III: Persia, ch. 16
prīmĭtĭae (prīmĭcĭae), ārum, f. primus,
I. the first things of their kind, firstlings.
I. Lit., first-fruits:
primitias Cereri farra resecta dabant, Ov. F. 2, 520; id. M. 8, 274; Plin. 18, 2, 2, § 8: pomiferi Laribus consuevimus horti Mittere primitias, Calp. Ecl. 2, 64; Vulg. Exod. 22, 29.—B. Transf., of other things:
primitiae metallorum, the first produce of the mine, Tac. H. 4, 53: vitis, the first shoots, Col. 4, 10, 2: plantae, id. 10, 147.—II. Trop.:
primitiae juvenis miserae, his first unhappy essays, Verg. A. 11, 156: tori, the first nuptial joys, Sil. 3, 111: armorum, the first-fruits of war, Stat. Th. 11, 285: lacrimarum, id. ib. 6, 146: primitiae et quasi libamenta ingenuarum artium, Gell. praef.: spectaculi, App. M. 10, p. 253, 12: commeatus, the beginning of navigation, id. ib. 11, p. 765 Oud.: dormientium, the first to rise from the dead, Vulg. 1 Cor. 15, 20; 15, 23.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
prīmitiae ārum, f
primus, the first yield, first-fruits : Primitias Cereri farra dabant, O.: de rege superbo, first-fruit of victory over , etc., V.— Fig.: miserae, first deeds of arms , V.