English edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from Latin fretum (strait, channel)

Noun edit

fretum (plural freta)

  1. strait; channel.

Latin edit

Etymology edit

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.[1][2]

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

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 edit

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 edit

References edit

  • 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
  1. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), “bh(e)rēi-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 1, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 132-133
  2. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “fretum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 242