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The corpus record — Latin

ferrum

ferrum

iron, steel

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

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 207 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. ferrum — de Vaan

ferrum 'iron, steel' [n. o] (Andr.+) Derivatives: ferreus 'made of iron' (P1.+), ferramentum 'iron implement' (PL+), — [de Vaan, s.v. ferrum, p. 228]

2. ferrum — Lewis & Short

ferrum, i, n.cf. Sanscr. dharti, firmness; Lat. firmus,

I iron.
I Lit., Plin. 34, 14, 39, § 138; Lucr. 1, 571; 5, 1241; 1286; Cic. N. D. 2, 60, 151; id. Leg. 2, 18, 45; Caes. B. G. 5, 12, 5; Hor. S. 1, 4, 20 et saep.: mustum quod resipit ferrum, has a taste of iron, Varr. R. R. 1, 54, 3.—
B Poet.
1 As a fig. of hard-heartedness, unfeelingness, cruelty, etc.: gerere ferrum in pectore, Ov. M. 9, 614; cf.: ferrum et scopulos gestare in corde, id. ib. 7, 33: durior ferro, id. ib. 14, 712; hence for the iron age, id. ib. 1, 127; 15, 260; Hor. Epod. 16, 65.—
2 As an image of firmness, endurance, Ov. Pont. 4, 10, 3.—
II Transf., any thing made of iron, an iron implement, as a plough: glebas proscindere ferro, Lucil. ap. Non. 401, 19: solum terrae, Lucr. 5, 1295; cf. also, campum, Ov. M. 7, 119: ferro scindimus aequor, Verg. G. 1, 50; a hatchet: ferro mitiget agrum, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 186; an axe: mordaci velut icta ferro Pinus, id. C. 4, 6, 9; 4, 4, 60 (for which, shortly before, bipennis); cf. Lucr. 6, 168; a dart: petita ferro belua, Hor. Epod. 5, 10; the tip of an arrow: exstabat ferrum de pectore aduncum, Ov. M. 9, 128; the head (of a spear), Tac. G. 6; an iron stylus: dextra tenet ferrum, id. ib. 9, 522; hair-scissors: solitus longos ferro resecare capillos, id. ib. 11, 182; curling-irons: crines vibratos calido ferro, Verg. A. 12, 100 et saep.—Esp. freq. a sword: Drusum ferro. Metellum veneno sustulerat, Cic. N. D. 3, 33, 81: in aliquem cum ferro invadere, id. Caecin. 9, 25: aut ferro aut fame interire, Caes. B. G. 5, 30 fin.: uri virgis ferroque necari, Hor. S. 2, 7, 58; cf.: gladiator, ferrum recipere jussus, the stroke of the sword, Cic. Tusc. 2, 17, 41. So, ferrum et ignis, like our fire and sword, to denote devastation, utter destruction: huic urbi ferro ignique minitantur, Cic. Phil. 11, 14, 37; cf.: hostium urbes agrique ferro atque igni vastentur, Liv. 31, 7, 13: pontem ferro, igni, quacumque vi possent, interrumpant, id. 2, 10, 4; 30, 6, 9; 1, 59, 1: ecce ferunt Troës ferrumque ignemque Jovemque In Danaas classes, Ov. M. 13, 91: inque meos ferrum flammasque penates Impulit, id. ib. 12, 551; so, conversely, igni ferroque, Cic. Phil. 13, 21, 47; Liv. 35, 21, 10; cf. Tac. A. 14, 38; Suet. Claud. 21: flamma ferroque, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 35, § 78; Flor. 2, 17, 15; 3, 18, 14; Sen. Const. Sap. 2, 2: ferrum, i. q. arms, for battle, war, force of arms: ferro, non auro, vitam cernamus, utrique, Enn. ap. Cic. Off. 1, 12, 38 (Ann. v. 202 ed. Vahl.); cf.: quem nemo ferro potuit superare nec auro, id. ap. Cic. Rep. 3, 3 (Ann. v. 220 ed. Vahl.): adnuit, sese mecum decernere ferro, id. ap. Prisc. p. 822 P. (Ann. v. 136 ed. Vahl.): decernere ferro, Cic. de Or. 2, 78, 317; Liv. 40, 8 fin.; Verg. A. 7, 525; 11, 218: cernere ferro, id. ib. 12, 709: ferro regna lacessere, with war, id. ib. 12, 186; cf.: atque omnis, Latio quae servit purpura ferro, i. e. made subject by the force of arms, Luc. 7, 228.— Prov.: ferrum meum in igni est, i. q. mea nunc res agitur, Sen. Mort. Claud.

3. ferrum — Walde–Hofmann

ferrum, -i n. „Eisen; eiserne Werkzeuge“ (seit Liv. Andr, rom., ebenso ferreus „eisern“ seit Enn.; -ea „eiserne Kette“ seit :486 fer(r)ümen — fertum. 6. Ih. [Wartburg III 470], -ämentum „eisernes Werkzeug“ seit Plaut., -äria f. „Eisengrube“ seit Cato und -àrius m. „Schmied“ seit 4. Ih., -ügo f. ,Eisenrost^ [vgl. aerügo] seit Plt. [in der Abltg. -ineus], *ferriolum, *ferrüre „beschlagen“ [von -àfus „eisenbeschlagen, … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. ferrum, p. 517]

In the wild

6 of 1,836 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. ferrum (scan p. 228; entry #553).
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. ferrum (scan p. 254; entry #3942).
  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. ferrum (scan pp. 517-518; entry #1106). Root candidates: *fer-, *bhers-.

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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.