The corpus record — Latin

fēbrŭum

means of purification, expiatory offerings

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

What it meant

1. februum — de Vaan

februum 'means of purification, expiatory offerings' [n. o] (Varro+; februm Varro, pl.februa, -drum Ον., Paul, ex F.) Derivatives: februare 4to purify' (Varro, Paul, ex R), februalis 'concerned with purification' (said of luno, Paul, ex F.), Februarius [adj.] '(the month) February; of February' (Varro, Cic.+), februatio 'ceremony of purification1 (Varro), februatus Concerned with purification' (Varro, Paul, ex F.). … — [de Vaan, s.v. februum, p. 222]

2. fēbrŭum — Lewis & Short

fēbrŭum, i, n. Orig., in the Sabine lang.,

I a purgation, means of purification.— Hence, februa, ōrum, n., the Roman festival of purification and expiation, celebrated on the 15th of the month hence called February (v. Februarius); whence, Februālis, Febrūlis, and Februāta, surnames of Juno, who was worshipped at this festival; Februātus, the festival itself; and Februus, a surname of Lupercus, who presided over this festival: Lupercalia dicta, quod in Lupercali luperci sacra faciunt. Rex cum ferias menstruas Nonis Februariis edicit, hunc diem Februatum appellat. Februum Sabini purgamentum, et id in sacris nostris verbum; nam et Lupercalia februatio, Varr. L. L. 6, § 13 Müll.; cf. Serv. Verg. A. 8, 343: Ego arbitror Februarium a die Februato, quod tum februatur populus, id est lupercis nudis lustratur antiquum oppidum Palatinum gregibus humanis cinctum, id. ib. 6, § 34; cf. also Paul. ex Fest. p. 85, 13 sq. Müll.: Februa Romani dixere piamina patres, Ov. F. 2, 19; 4, 726; 5, 423: Juno pulchra ... nam Fluoniam, Februalemque ac Februam mihi poscere non necesse est, cum nihil contagionis corporeae sexu intemerata pertulerim, Mart. Cap. 2, § 149: Februlis, Paul. ex Fest. p. 85, 16 Müll.; Arnob. 3, p. 118 (dub. al. Februtis).

3. februum — Walde–Hofmann

februum, -; n. „Reinigungsmittel“ (Paul Fest. 85; sabin. nach Varro 1. 1. 6, 13, vgl. Ernout ÉL dial. lat. 162, Whatmough Harv. St. 42, 170), Pl. „Reinigungsfest im Februar“ (Adj. februus sek. und dichterisch; vgl. auch den Toten- und Heinigungsgott Februus — Faunus [Altheim Röm. RG. I 60], ferner Juno Februa, auch Februäta, Febrülis (Paul. Fest. a. O.] als Fruchtbarkeitsgöttin; daher februum auch für das Ziegenfell … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. februum, p. 504]

Where it came from

No etymology authority pointer is recorded for this lemma yet — an honest gap, not an omission.

Downloads

Word record (JSON)·Concordance (CSV)·Frequencies (CSV)·Cite (BibTeX)

CC BY 4.0 with receipt attribution — every file carries its license line. What is exportable

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.