feralis

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *fēz-ālis, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, sacred place”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /feːˈraː.lis/, [feːˈräːlʲɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /feˈra.lis/, [feˈräːlis]

Adjective

fērālis (neuter fērāle, comparative fērālior, superlative fērālissimus); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. (poetic outside post-Augustan prose) of, belonging to, or pertaining to the dead, corpses, or death; funereal
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.462–463:

     [...] sōlaque culminibus fērālī carmine būbō
     saepe querī et longās in flētum dūcere vōcēs.

     [Dido experiences dire omens:] and from the rooftops a lone owl with funereal song often lamented and drew out its long mournful wails.

2. (in particular) of or belonging to the Feralia
3. (poetic, in the phrase “mēnsis fērālis”) denoting February
4. (transferred sense) deadly, fatal, dangerous

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

Number	Singular			Plural
Case / Gender	Masc./Fem.	Neuter		Masc./Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	fērālis	fērāle		fērālēs	fērālia
Genitive	fērālis			fērālium
Dative	fērālī			fērālibus
Accusative	fērālem	fērāle		fērālēs fērālīs	fērālia
Ablative	fērālī			fērālibus
Vocative	fērālis	fērāle		fērālēs	fērālia

Synonyms

• (transferred sense: deadly, fatal, dangerous): fūnestus

Derived terms

• Ferālia
• fērāliter (Late Latin)

Descendants

• Catalan: feral
• → English: feral
• Italian: ferale
• Portuguese: feral
• Spanish: feral

References

• “fērālis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “feralis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fērālis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.