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.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfre.tum/, [ˈfrɛt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfre.tum/, [ˈfrɛːt̪um]

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.
   • Publius Vergilius Maro, Eclogues 1:

     Et freta destituent nūdōs in lītore piscēs.

     And the seas shall leave their fish bare on the shore.

3. turmoil

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

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

Derived terms

• fretēnsis

References

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