metus

Esperanto edit

Verb edit

metus

conditional of meti

Ido edit

Verb edit

metus

conditional of metar

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Italic *metu-, of uncertain origin. Klingenschmitt connects the word to Old Irish moth (“astonishment”), which is semantically attractive; however, he does not explain the phonetic mechanisms by which the two words could be related.^[1]

Pronunciation edit

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.tus/, [ˈmɛt̪ʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.tus/, [ˈmɛːt̪us]

Noun edit

metus m (genitive metūs); fourth declension

fear, dread
Synonyms: terror, timor, pavor
- 8 CE – 12 CE, Ovid, Sorrows 1.43–44:
  carminibus metus omnis obest; perditus ēnsem
  haesūrum iugulō iam putō iamque meō.
  Every fear is harmful to [writing] verses; I have already been destroyed, and now I suspect a sword will be stuck in my throat.
  (Even though the poet had been sentenced to live in exile he still feared for his life.)
anxiety, awe

Declension edit

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	metus	metūs
Genitive	metūs	metuum
Dative	metuī	metibus
Accusative	metum	metūs
Ablative	metū	metibus
Vocative	metus	metūs

Derived terms edit

Derived terms

metuō
in metū sum (I am in fear)
meticulōsus
metum concipiō (I become afraid)
metum habeō (I am afraid, I entertain fear)

Descendants edit

Padanian:
- Piedmontese: mei
Southern Gallo-Romance:
- Gascon: met
Ibero-Romance:
- Asturian: mieu
- Navarro-Aragonese: miedo
  - Aragonese: miedo
- Old Galician-Portuguese: medo
  - Galician: medo
  - Portuguese: medo
- Spanish: miedo
  - Papiamentu: miedu
⇒ Vulgar Latin: *metōrōsus (by analogy with *pavōrōsus)
- Old Galician-Portuguese: medoroso, mederoso, medroso
  - Portuguese: medroso
- Spanish: medroso

References edit

“metus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“metus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
metus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to be comprised under the term 'fear.: sub metum subiectum esse
- a man is paralysed with fear: metus aliquem exanimat (Mil. 24. 65)
- to grow pale with fear: exalbescere metu
- to be completely prostrated by fear: metu fractum et debilitatum, perculsum esse
- to recover from one's fright: a metu respirare (Cluent. 70. 200)
- to recover from one's fright: ex metu se recreare, se colligere
Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “mĕtus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 6/2: Mercatio–Mneme, page 62
Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1985) “miedo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volumes IV (Me–Re), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 66

^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “metus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 378

Lithuanian edit

Noun edit

metùs

accusative plural of mẽtas (“time”)

[1] De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “metus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 378

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