forfex

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin forfex.

Noun

forfex (plural forfices)

  1. (obsolete) A pair of shears.
    • Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock
      The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide,
      T'inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide.
    • Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, Encyclopædia of antiquities
      the Classical forfices

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for forfex in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Latin

Etymology

According to De Vaan, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrdʰ- and so, cognate with Ancient Greek πέρθω (pérthō, “to sack, to ravage”) and πορθέω (porthéō, “to pillage”)[1].

Pronunciation
  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈfor.feks/, [ˈfɔr.fɛks]

Noun

forfex f (genitive forficis); third declension

  1. pair of shears or scissors

Inflection

Third declension.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative forfex forficēs
Genitive forficis forficum
Dative forficī forficibus
Accusative forficem forficēs
Ablative forfice forficibus
Vocative forfex forficēs

Descendants
  • Romansch: forsch, forbesch
  • Sardinian: fóltighe, fórfiga, fórfighe
  • Sicilian: fòrficia
  • Venetian: forfe

References
  1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill
  • forfex in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • forfex in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
  • forfex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
  • forfex in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • forfex in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
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