forfex
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin forfex.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfɔːɹfɛks/
Noun
forfex (plural forfices)
- (obsolete) A pair of shears.
- 1712-17, Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock
- The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide,
- T'inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide.
- 1825, Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, Encyclopædia of Antiquities:
- the Classical forfices
- 1712-17, Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for forfex in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)
Latin
Etymology
According to De Vaan, from Proto-Italic *forðom, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrdʰ- and so, cognate with Ancient Greek πέρθω (pérthō, “to sack, to ravage”) and πορθέω (porthéō, “to pillage”)[1].
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈfor.feks/, [ˈfɔrfɛks̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈfor.feks/, [ˈfɔrfeks]
Noun
forfex f (genitive forficis); third declension
- pair of shears or scissors
Declension
Third-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | forfex | forficēs |
| Genitive | forficis | forficum |
| Dative | forficī | forficibus |
| Accusative | forficem | forficēs |
| Ablative | forfice | forficibus |
| Vocative | forfex | forficēs |
Descendants
- Aromanian: foarficã, foarticã, fortãche
- Emilian: forbza
- French: forces
- Friulian: fuarpis, fuarfis, forfes
- → Venetian: forfe
- Lombard: fores (Milano), forves (Bregaglia), fraus (Mesolcina)
- Neapolitan: forfece, fuerceue (Bari) frovece (Abruzzo, medieval)
- Occitan: forfe, forfias (Vivaro-Alpine)
- Old Italian: forfice
- Italian: forbice, forbici
- Romanian: foarfecă, foarfece
- Romagnol: formece
- Romansch: forsch, forbesch
- Sardinian: fóltighe, fórfiga, fórfighe, forbigi
- Sicilian: fòrficia, fròvici
- Venetian: forfeze (Padova), forbeze (Verona)
- → Portuguese: fórfice
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
- “forfex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- forfex 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)
- forfex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- “forfex”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “forfex”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
- Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911), “fŏrfex”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 257