pharetra

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φαρέτρα (pharétra, “quiver”) possibly from φέρω (phérō). Compare with φέρετρον (phéretron).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpʰa.re.tra/, [ˈpʰärɛt̪rä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.re.tra/, [ˈfäːret̪rä]
• (Classical, Poetic) IPA^(key): /pʰaˈret.ra/, [pʰäˈrɛt̪rä] — (see usage note)

Noun

pharetra f (genitive pharetrae); first declension

1. quiver
   • c. 25 BCE, Ovid, Heroides, Letter 15: "Sappho Phaoni":

     Sume fidem et pharetram fies manifestus Apollo

     Take up string and quiver and you are Apollo manifest

2. (by extension) a kind of sundial in the form of a quiver

Usage notes

• In ordinary Classical Latin pronunciation, when the cluster tr occurs intervocalically at a syllabic boundary (denoted in pronunciatory transcriptions by ⟨.⟩), both consonants are considered to belong to the latter syllable; if the former syllable contains only a short vowel (and not a long vowel or a diphthong), then it is a light syllable. Where the two syllables under consideration are a word's penult and antepenult, this has a bearing on stress, because a word whose penult is a heavy syllable is stressed on that syllable, whereas one whose penult is a light syllable is stressed on the antepenult instead. In poetic usage, where syllabic weight and stress are important for metrical reasons, writers sometimes regard the t in such a sequence as belonging to the former syllable; in this case, doing so alters the word's stress. For more words whose stress can be varied poetically, see their category.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pharetra	pharetrae
Genitive	pharetrae	pharetrārum
Dative	pharetrae	pharetrīs
Accusative	pharetram	pharetrās
Ablative	pharetrā	pharetrīs
Vocative	pharetra	pharetrae

Synonyms

• (quiver): gōrȳtos, scrautum

Derived terms

• pharetrātus
• pharetrazōnium
• pharetriger

Descendants

• → Italian: faretra
• → Portuguese: fáretra
• → Romanian: faretră

References

• “pharetra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pharetra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pharetra 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)
• pharetra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “pharetra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “pharetra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin