ficatum

Latin

FWOTD – 18 September 2024

Etymology

Ellipsis of iecur fīcātum (literally “figgy liver”). Derived from fīcus (“fig”) +‎ -ātum (“-y, -ed”, attributive adjective suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /fiːˈkaː.tum/, [fiːˈkäːt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /fiˈka.tum/, [fiˈkäːt̪um]

Noun

fīcātum n (genitive fīcātī); second declension

1. liver (from an animal fattened on figs); foie gras

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fīcātum	fīcāta
Genitive	fīcātī	fīcātōrum
Dative	fīcātō	fīcātīs
Accusative	fīcātum	fīcāta
Ablative	fīcātō	fīcātīs
Vocative	fīcātum	fīcāta

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: hicat, hecat
  • Istro-Romanian: ficåt
  • Romanian: ficat
• Dalmatian:
  • fecuat
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: fecatu, fegatu
  • Italian: fegato
  • Neapolitan: fécato, fécheto, féhato
  • Sicilian: fìcatu
• Sardinian:
  • fícadu, fícatu, ícatu
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italian:
    • Emilian: féddegh
    • Ligurian: figæto
    • Lombard: fídeg, figad
    • Piedmontese: fìdich
  • Rhaeto-Romance:
    • Friulian: fiât
    • Ladin: fià
    • Romansch: fio
  • Venetian: figà
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: fèjo
  • Old French: feie, foie, firie
    • French: foie
    • Norman: faie
  • Walloon: foete
  • Occitano-Romance:
    • Catalan: fetge
    • Occitan: fetge, hitge
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: figado
  • Asturian: fégadu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: fígado
    • Portuguese: fígado
  • Old Spanish: fígado
    • Spanish: hígado

References

• “ficatum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ficatum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• ficatum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.