ensifer

Borrowed from Latin ēnsifer (“sword-bearing”).

ensifer (uncountable)

1. (microbiology) A member of the genus Ensifer, the bacteria family of Rhizobiaceae.

• Feiners, enfires, fineers, refines

• ēnsiger

From ēnsis (“sword”) +‎ -fer (“-carrying”). Compare Ancient Greek ξιφήρης (xiphḗrēs).

Orion depicted as an ensifer (sword-bearer), Uranometria, 1603

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈen.si.fer/, [ˈẽː.sɪ.fɛr]

ēnsifer (feminine ēnsifera, neuter ēnsiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

1. sword-bearing (especially as an epithet of Orion)
   • 1835. M. Annaeus Lucanus, Pharsalia (ed. Carolus Hermannus Weise) book 1, line 663 (3.61):

     Ensiferi nimium fulget latus Orionis ?

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

ēnsifer m (genitive ēnsiferī); second declension

1. sword-bearer

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

• ensĭfer in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ENSIFERI in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• ensĭfĕr (-ger) in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 590/3
• M. Annaeus Lucanus (1835) Pharsalia (poem).
• “ensifer” on page 609/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “ensifer”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 375/1
• Glossary of Latin Words, Bible History Online. (File retrieved 10-19-07)