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The corpus record — Latin

saevus

saevus

harsh, savage, ferocious

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 140 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. saevus — de Vaan

saevus 'harsh, savage, ferocious' [adj. o/a] (Andr.+) Derivatives: saevire 'to rage, be violent' (P1.+), saeviter 'savagely' (P1.+), saevitia 'savageness' (Ter.+), saevitudo 'savageness' (PI.). Pit *saiwo- 'savage'» PIE *seh2i-uo- 'savage'. IE cognates: Ofr. saeth, W. hoed 'sorrow' < *saitu-; Hit sat-21 'to become sullen, angry', Gr. αίάνής 'irritating' < *saiuo-, Go. sair> OHG ser 'pain' < PGm. *sairo-. — [de Vaan, s.v. saevus, p. 548]

2. saevus — Lewis & Short

saevus, a, um (collat. form saevis, e; in

I gen. plur. saevium, Amm. 15, 9; 29, 5), adj. etym. dub.; perh. akin with scaevus, q. v., roused to fierceness (while ferus signifies naturally fierce); raging, furious, fell, savage, ferocious, etc. (mostly poet.)
I Lit., of animals: leones, Lucr. 3, 306; 4, 1016; cf.: saecla leonum, id. 5, 862: leaena, Tib. 3, 4, 90: lea, Ov. M. 4, 102: saevior leaena, Verg. G. 3, 246: apri, Lucr. 5, 1327: sues, id. 5, 1309: lupi, Tib. 1, 5, 54: canes, Prop. 4 (5), 4, 40. Ov. M. 7, 64: ferae, Tib. 1, 10, 6; Ov. M. 4, 404; 7, 387: belua, Hor. C. 1, 12, 22.—
II Transf., of any vehement, passionate excitement, fierce, cruel, violent, harsh, severe, fell, dire, barbarous, etc. (syn.: crudelis, inmitis, trux, durus).
A Of persons: nunc truculento mihi atque saevo usus sene est, Plaut. Bacch. 4, 5, 3; so (with truculentus) id. Truc. 3, 2, 5; cf.: agrestis, saevus, tristis, parcus, truculentus, etc., Ter. Ad. 5, 4, 12: gens, Cic. poët. Tusc. 2, 8, 20: ex amore saevus, Plaut. Am. 1, 3, 43: uxor, cross, Ter. Phorm. 5, 1, 17: vir, Hor. C. 3, 10, 2: custos, id. Ep. 1, 16, 77: magister, id. ib. 1, 18, 13: novercae, Verg. G. 2, 128: Canidia, Hor. Epod. 5, 47: Tisiphone, id. S. 1, 8, 33: mater Cupidinum, id. C. 1, 19, 1; 4, 1, 5: Juno, Verg. A. 1, 4; cf.: conjux Jovis, Ov. M. 9, 199: Proserpina, Hor. C. 1, 28, 20: Necessitas, id. ib. 1, 35, 17: tyrannus, Ov. M. 6, 581; cf.: cum tyranno saevissimo et violentissimo in suos, Liv. 34, 32: saevus metu, Suet. Dom. 3: aliquanto post civilis belli victoriam saevior, id. ib. 10: post cujus interitum vel saevissimus exstitit, id. Tib. 61: saevorum saevissime Centaurorum, Euryte, Ov. M. 12, 219 et saep.: saevus in armis Aeneas acuit Martem, terrible, deino/s, Verg. A. 12, 107: Hector, id. ib. 1, 99; Ov. M. 13, 177: Achilles, id. ib. 12, 582: sed manibus qui saevus erit, Tib. 1, 10, 67: nimium in pellice saevae deae, Ov. M. 4, 547: videt Atridas Priamumque et saevum ambobus Achillem, Verg. A. 1, 458: saevus accusandis reis, Tac. A. 11, 5: duces, Hor. C. 3, 16, 16.—Poet., with inf. (cf. saevio, II. A.): quaelibet in quemvis opprobria fingere saevus, Hor. Ep. 1, 15, 30; cf. in comp.: saevior ante alios iras servasse, Sil. 11, 7.—
B Of things: mare, Naev. ap. Fest. s. v. topper, p. 352 Müll.; Sall. J. 17, 5: pelagus, Ov. M. 14, 559: fluctus, Plaut. Mil. 2, 5, 4: procellae, Lucr. 3, 805: undae, id. 5, 222: saevi exsistunt turbines, Poët. ap. Cic. de Or. 3, 39, 157: ventus, Cic. Att. 5, 12; Liv. 28, 18; Ov. M. 12, 8: tempestates, Lucil. ap. Non. 388, 17; Lucr. 6, 458; Liv. 24, 8; cf. hiems, id. 40, 45; Val. Fl. 7, 52: Orion, Verg. A. 7, 719: scopulus, id. ib. 5, 270: ignes, Prop. 1, 1, 27; Ov. M. 2, 313; Hor. C. 1, 16, 11: bipennis, Ov. M. 8, 766: falx Priapi, Tib. 1, 1, 18: catenae, Hor. C. 3, 11, 45: tympana, sounding harshly or terribly, id. ib. 1, 18, 13 et saep.: saevo ac duro in bello, Lucil. ap. Non. 388, 15; so, bellum, Lucr. 1, 475: saeva et tristia dicta, Lucil. ap. Non. 388, 23: unde superstitiosa primum saeva evasit vox fera, Poët. ap. Cic. Div. 2, 56, 115: minae, Prop. 1, 17, 6 sq.: verba, Hor. Epod. 12, 13: jocus, id. Ep. 2, 1, 148; id. C. 1, 33, 12: naves, id. ib. 1, 37, 30: militia, id. Ep. 1, 18, 54: cum ex saevis et perditis rebus ad meliorem statum fortuna revocatur, Cic. Rep. Fragm. 6, p. 419 Osann (5, p. 247 B. and K.; ap. Amm. 15, 5, 23): Medea amore saevo saucia, Enn. ap. Auct. Her. 2, 22, 34; and ap. Cic. Cael. 8, 18 (Trag. v. 288 Vahl.); so, Amor, Verg. E. 8, 47: horror, id. A. 12, 406: verbera, id. G. 3, 252: ira, Prop. 1, 18, 14: damna, Tac. A. 2, 26: adulationes, id. ib. 4, 20: caedes, Ov. M. 1, 161: dolores, Verg. A. 1, 25: ira, Ov. M. 1, 453: paupertas, Hor. C. 1, 12, 43: quae sibi belligeranti saeva vel prospera evenissent, Tac. A. 2, 5: ut saeva et detestanda Quirinio clamitarent, id. ib. 3, 23: multa saevaque questus, id. ib. 1, 6.— Adv., in three forms, saeve, saeviter (anteclass.), and saevum (in post-Aug. poets), fiercely, furiously, ferociously, cruelly, barbarously, etc.
(a) saevē: saeve et atrociter factitavit, Suet. Tib. 59: facere omnia, Luc. 8, 492: gesturus impia bella, id. 7, 171. —
(b) saevĭter: ferro cernunt de victoriā, Enn. ap Non. 511, 8; Att. and Afran. ib. 4, 7; Plaut. Ps. 5, 2, 3; id. Poen. 1, 2, 122; id. Trin. 4, 3, 53.—
(g) saevum: cui arridens, Sil. 1, 398; Stat. Th. 3, 589; Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1, 285.—
b Comp.: lumina Gorgoneo saevius igne micant, Ov. A. A. 3, 504; Plin. 30, 2, 5, § 15; Hor. C. 2, 10, 9.—
c Sup.: sunt (loca), quae tepent hieme, sed aestate saevissime candent, Col. 1, 4, 9; Claud. ap. Suet. Claud. 2: saevissime dentiunt, Plin. 11, 37, 64, § 170.

3. saevus — Walde–Hofmann

saevus, -a, -um „wütend, tobend, hart, grausam, grimmig* (seit Liv. Andr. Enn. Plaut., nicht rom.), saevis Amm., Adv. saec seit Hor., saeviter seit Enn. und Plt., persaevus „sehr reißend* Mela, saevitia „Wut“ seit Ter. [-4és seit Apul, saevitiösus Gl.) saevitüdo ds. seit Plt., saevitäs ds. seit Apul, saevió, -ü, -itum, -ire ,wüte* seit Pit. [-or Gl. CE. 971, 8, s. Heraeus Kl. Schr. 126); Komp.: desaeviö ,wüte säga — … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. saevus, p. 1368]

In the wild

6 of 1,279 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. saevus (scan p. 548; entry #1525). Root candidates: *saiwo-, *saitu-, *saiuo-.
  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. saevus (scan pp. 1368-1369; entry #2367). Root candidates: *saituro-, *sai-, *sei-.

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.