fretum

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin fretum (strait, channel)

Noun

fretum (plural freta)

  1. strait; channel.

Latin

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (to brew, boil) with the suffix *-eto-, but the zero-grade is inexplicable. In this case related to ferveō, fretāle and dēfrutum[1].[2]

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈfre.tum/, [ˈfrɛ.tũ]

Noun

fretum n (genitive fretī); second declension

  1. strait, sound, estuary, channel.
    • Marcus Tullius Cicero, Against Vatinius Ch. 5:
      venerisne ad fretum per Mauretaniam?
      did you come to the strait via Mauritania?
  2. the seas.
  3. turmoil

Inflection

Second declension.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative fretum freta
Genitive fretī fretōrum
Dative fretō fretīs
Accusative fretum freta
Ablative fretō fretīs
Vocative fretum freta

References

  1. Pokorny, Julius (1959), “bh(e)rēi-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume I, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 132-133
  2. De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “fretum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 242
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.