sacer
Latin edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Old Latin sacros, sakros, from Proto-Italic *sakros (“sacred”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“to sanctify, to make a treaty”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈsa.ker/, [ˈs̠äkɛr]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈsa.t͡ʃer/, [ˈsäːt͡ʃer]
Adjective edit
sacer (feminine sacra, neuter sacrum, superlative sacerrimus); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)
- sacred, holy, dedicated (to a divinity), consecrated, hallowed (translating Greek ἱερός)
- devoted (to a divinity for sacrifice), fated (to destruction), forfeited, accursed
- divine, celestial
- early 7th c. CE, Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae sive Origines 9.1:
- Tres sunt autem linguae sacrae: Hebraea, Graeca, Latina, quae toto orbe maxime excellunt.
- Three are the sacred languages: Hebrew, Greek and Latin, all of which distinguish themselves in the whole world.
- Tres sunt autem linguae sacrae: Hebraea, Graeca, Latina, quae toto orbe maxime excellunt.
- (only poetic and in post-Augustan prose) execrable, detestable, horrible, infamous; criminal, impious, wicked, abominable, cursed
Usage notes edit
The comparative form *sacrior and its inflected variants are not attested, even though the superlative sacerrimus is attested.
Declension edit
First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | sacer | sacra | sacrum | sacrī | sacrae | sacra | |
Genitive | sacrī | sacrae | sacrī | sacrōrum | sacrārum | sacrōrum | |
Dative | sacrō | sacrō | sacrīs | ||||
Accusative | sacrum | sacram | sacrum | sacrōs | sacrās | sacra | |
Ablative | sacrō | sacrā | sacrō | sacrīs | |||
Vocative | sacer | sacra | sacrum | sacrī | sacrae | sacra |
Synonyms edit
- (accursed): scelestus
- (consecrated, sacred): augustus, sānctus
- (detestable): exsecrābilis, scelestus
Antonyms edit
- (antonym(s) of “holy”): dēfānātus
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
Etymology 2 edit
From Proto-Italic *sākris (“sacrificial, sacred”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“to sanctify, to make a treaty”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈsaː.ker/, [ˈs̠äːkɛr]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈsa.t͡ʃer/, [ˈsäːt͡ʃer]
Generally cited with a long vowel by etymological sources. Per Nishimura (2014), citing Timpanaro (1965), the only evidence of the long vowel in the first syllable is the scansion in Plautus's Rudens (below). Syllables containing short vowels before a plosive-liquid cluster such as /kr/ are not usually treated as heavy in Plautine poetry.[1]
Adjective edit
sācer (feminine sācris, neuter sācre); third-declension three-termination adjective
- sacred, holy, suitable to be sacrificed (found especially as an adjective applying to the noun porcus)
Declension edit
Third-declension three-termination adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | sācer | sācris | sācre | sācrēs | sācria | ||
Genitive | sācris | sācrium | |||||
Dative | sācrī | sācribus | |||||
Accusative | sācrem | sācre | sācrēs | sācria | |||
Ablative | sācrī | sācribus | |||||
Vocative | sācer | sācris | sācre | sācrēs | sācria |
References edit
- ^ Nishimura, Kanehiro (2014). "Vowel Lengthening in the Latin Nominal Lexicon: Innovation and Inheritance." Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, 127, 228–248. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43857962, page 232
Further reading edit
- “sacer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “sacer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- sacer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- (ambiguous) ritual; ceremonial: sacra, res divinae, religiones, caerimoniae
- (ambiguous) to sacrifice: sacra, sacrificium facere (ἱερὰ ῥέζειν), sacrificare
- (ambiguous) to profane sacred rites: sacra polluere et violare
- (ambiguous) ritual; ceremonial: sacra, res divinae, religiones, caerimoniae
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 532