1. ferrum — de Vaan
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
- Octavia 14 · 26.76/10k
- Phoenissae 10 · 24.46/10k
- De Regibus 1 · 22.57/10k
- Thyestes 13 · 20.65/10k
- Hamilcar 1 · 19.34/10k
- Psychomachia 11 · 18.32/10k
- Agamemnon 10 · 17.98/10k
- de Bello Gothico 7 · 17.36/10k
- Oedipus 10 · 16.85/10k
- Dittochaeon 2 · 16.34/10k
- Aeneid 101 · 15.94/10k
- Pharsalia 80 · 15.71/10k
Densest 12 of 207 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.
What it meant
2. ferrum — Lewis & Short
ferrum, i, n.cf. Sanscr. dharti, firmness; Lat. firmus,
mustum quod resipit ferrum,has a taste of iron, Varr. R. R. 1, 54, 3.—
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.—
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
In the wild
- ferro Seneca, Phaedra 1
- ferro Cicero, De Domo Sua Ad Pontifices 145
- ferrum Seneca, De Beneficiis 3.37.1
- ferro Seneca, De Providentia 1.6.9
- ferro Silius Italicus, Punica 14.542
- ferrum Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes 1.86.p1
6 of 1,836 attestations shown.
Where it came from
- Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. ferrum (scan p. 228; entry #553).
- Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. ferrum (scan p. 254; entry #3942).
- 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.