ferrum

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ferrum.

Noun

ferrum (countable and uncountable, plural ferrums)

1. (homeopathy) Any of various remedies made from iron-containing compounds.

Translations

A homeopathic remedy made from an iron-containing compound

Latin

 ferrum on Latin Wikipedia

Chemical element
Fe
Previous: manganum (Mn)
Next: cobaltum (Co)

ferrum

ferrum

ferrum

Etymology

From earlier *ferzom, from a substrate loanword from an unknown source. According to de Vaan, possibly from a Phoenician dialect,^[1] 𐤁𐤓𐤆𐤋 (brzl /⁠barzel⁠/, “iron”), akin to Aramaic פַּרְזְלָא, ܦܪܙܠܐ (parzəlā, “iron”), Akkadian 𒀭𒁇 (parzillum, “iron”), Ugaritic 𐎁𐎗𐎏𐎍 (brḏl, “iron”), considered of Anatolian origin.^[2] The word could have entered Latin through Etruscan.^[3]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfer.rum/, [ˈfɛrːʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfer.rum/, [ˈfɛrːum]

Noun

ferrum n (genitive ferrī); second declension

1. iron
2. (metonymically) any tool made of iron

   Synonym: chalybs

3. sword

   Urbi ferrō flammāque minitatus est.

   He threatened the city with fire and sword.

   Ferro incumbere.

   To fall on his sword.

   Hyponyms: ēnsis, gladius

4. fight, clash
   • c. 27 CE – 66 CE, Petronius, Satyricon 45.6:

     Non est miscix. ferrum optimum daturus est, sine fuga, carnarium in medio, ut amphitheater videat.

     He is no flibbertigibbet, he will give the best fight, without flight, a carnage in the middle, so that the whole amphitheater will see it.

   • c. 161, Dig. XXVIII.I.8.4 Gaius libro septimo decimo ad edictum provinciale

     Hi vero, qui ad ferrum aut ad bestias aut in metallum damnantur, libertatem perdunt bonaque eorum publicantur: unde apparet amittere eos testamenti factionem.

     But those sentenced to fight in the arena or with the beasts or to work in the mines lose freedom and their assets are forfeited: hence one sees that the efficacy of their last will must be denied.

   Synonyms: pugna, gladius

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	ferrum	ferra
genitive	ferrī	ferrōrum
dative	ferrō	ferrīs
accusative	ferrum	ferra
ablative	ferrō	ferrīs
vocative	ferrum	ferra

Derived terms

• ferrūgō

Related terms

• ferrāmentārius
• ferrāmentum
• ferrāria
• ferrārius
• ferrātus
• ferreus
• ferrūgināns
• ferrūgineus
• ferrūmen

 

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: her, heru, hjeru
  • Istro-Romanian: fľer
  • Megleno-Romanian: ier, ieru
  • Romanian: fier, fer — regional
• Dalmatian:
  • fiar
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: ferru, farru
  • Italian: ferro
    • →? Sabir: ferro
  • Neapolitan: fierro

    Tarantino: fierro

  • Sicilian: ferru
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: fèr
    • Ligurian: færo
    • Lombard: fèr
    • Piedmontese: fer
    • Romagnol: fër
  • Friulian: fiêr
  • Istriot: fièro
  • Ladin: fer
  • Romansch: fier
  • Venetan: fero
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: fèr, fèrro, fa, far, farou, fè, fê
  • Old French: fer
    • Middle French: fer
      • French: fer (see there for further descendants)
    • Norman: fé (France, Jersey), faer (Guernsey), fer (Sark)
    • Walloon: fier
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Gascon: hèr
  • Occitan: fèrre, ferri, fèr
  • Old Catalan: ferr, ferre, ferro
    • Catalan: ferro
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Navarro-Aragonese: fierro
    • Aragonese: fierro

      Ribagorçan: ferri

  • Old Leonese: fierru
    • Asturian: fierro, fierru, ḥierru, ḥierro
    • Extremaduran: hierru
    • Leonese: fierru
    • Mirandese: fierro
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: ferro
    • Fala: ferru
    • Galician: ferro
    • Portuguese: ferro (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: fierro
    • Ladino: fierro
    • Spanish: fierro, hierro
      • Papiamentu: heru
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: ferru (most dialects), erru (most Nuorese varieties)
• Borrowings:
  • → English: ferrum
  • → Malay: ferum
  • → Translingual: Fe

References

• “ferrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ferrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ferrum 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)
• ferrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to cut one's way (through the enemies' ranks): ferro viam facere (per confertos hostes)
    
  • to ravage with fire and sword: omnia ferro ignique, ferro atque igni or ferro flammaque vastare
    
  • to fight a pitched battle: acie (armis, ferro) decernere
    
  • all have perished by the sword: omnia strata sunt ferro
    
  • (ambiguous) to fly aloft; to be carried into the sky: sublimem or sublime (not in sublime or sublimiter) ferri, abire
    
  • (ambiguous) to be in every one's mouth: per omnium ora ferri
    
  • (ambiguous) to feel an attraction for study: trahi, ferri ad litteras
    
  • (ambiguous) to feel inspired: divino quodam instinctu concitari, ferri (Div. 1. 31. 66)
    
  • (ambiguous) to take a higher tone (especially of poets and orators): exsurgere altius or incitatius ferri
    
  • (ambiguous) to be carried away by one's passions: libidine ferri
    
  • (ambiguous) to be carried away by something: praecipitem ferri aliqua re (Verr. 5. 46. 121)
    
  • (ambiguous) to have no principles: caeco impetu ferri
    
  • (ambiguous) to throw oneself heart and soul into politics: studio ad rem publicam ferri
    
  • (ambiguous) to throw oneself on the enemy with drawn sword: strictis gladiis in hostem ferri
    
• “ferrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ferrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

1. 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 214
2. Olmo Lete, Gregorio del with Sanmartín, Joaquín and Watson, Wilfred G. E. (2015) “ferrum”, in A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 112), 3rd edition, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 234
3. Klein, Dr. Ernest, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., 1971.