inventrix

inventrix

English

Alternative forms

• inuentrix [17th century]

Etymology

From the Latin inventrīx.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭnvĕnʹtrĭks, IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɛntɹɪks/

Noun

inventrix (plural inventrices)

1. (archaic or often derogatory) A female that invents.
   • 1673: Randle Cotgrave, A French and English Dictionary, “Trouveuſe”

     Trouveuſe: f. An inventrix; or a woman that findeth out.

   • 1997: Angelika Taschen, Roberto Ohrt, and Burkhard Riemschneider [eds.], Kippenberger, page 218 (Taschen; →ISBN, 9783822878675)

     Two proletariat inventrices on the way to an inventor’s congress

Synonyms

• inventress

Coordinate terms

• inventor

Translations

a female that invents

French: inventrice (fr) f, trouveuse (fr) f Italian: inventrice f Latin: inventrīx f Spanish: inventora f Welsh: dyfeiswraig f

References

• “inˈventrix” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

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Latin

Etymology

inveniō (“I discover”) +‎ -trīx

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /inˈu̯en.triːks/, [ɪnˈu̯ɛn̪t̪riːks̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /inˈven.triks/, [iɱˈvɛn̪t̪riks]

Noun

inventrīx f (genitive inventrīcis, masculine inventor); third declension

1. an inventrix; a female inventor, inventress; she that finds out or discovers something
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.709-710:

     ‘sum tamen inventrīx auctorque ego carminis huius
     hoc est, cūr nostrōs ars cōlat ista diēs.’

     “Yet I am the inventress, I the originator, of this music. This is why that art observes my [festival] days.”
     (The poetic voice of Minerva credits herself for having invented the pipe or flute; the flute-players of ancient Rome honored the goddess annually in June.)

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	inventrīx	inventrīcēs
Genitive	inventrīcis	inventrīcum
Dative	inventrīcī	inventrīcibus
Accusative	inventrīcem	inventrīcēs
Ablative	inventrīce	inventrīcibus
Vocative	inventrīx	inventrīcēs

Descendants

• English: inventrix
• French: inventrice
• Italian: inventrice

References

• “inventrix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “inventrix”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers