pulcher
Latin
Alternative forms
- pulcer
Etymology
Unknown. Possibly from earlier polcher, which according to Walde-Hoffman and Pokorny reflects Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“motley, variegated”), with dissimilation *perḱ-ro-s > *pelḱ-ro-s, which would make it cognate to Sanskrit पृश्नि (pṛ́śni). De Vaan[1] rejects that connection as both irregular and semantically incompatible/tenuous, and assigns no known etymology.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpul.kʰer/, [ˈpʊɫ.kʰɛr]
Audio (Classical) (file)
Adjective
pulcher (feminine pulchra, neuter pulchrum, comparative pulchrior, superlative pulcherrimus); first/second declension
- beautiful, fair, pretty
- Synonyms: bellus, fōrmōsus
- (figuratively) noble, honorable, excellent
- (substantive) beauty
Inflection
First/second declension, nominative masculine singular in -er.
| Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | pulcher | pulchra | pulchrum | pulchrī | pulchrae | pulchra | |
| Genitive | pulchrī | pulchrae | pulchrī | pulchrōrum | pulchrārum | pulchrōrum | |
| Dative | pulchrō | pulchrae | pulchrō | pulchrīs | pulchrīs | pulchrīs | |
| Accusative | pulchrum | pulchram | pulchrum | pulchrōs | pulchrās | pulchra | |
| Ablative | pulchrō | pulchrā | pulchrō | pulchrīs | pulchrīs | pulchrīs | |
| Vocative | pulcher | pulchra | pulchrum | pulchrī | pulchrae | pulchra | |
- comparative: pulchrior, superlative: pulcherrimus
Derived terms
- pulchellus
- pulchrē
- pulchritūdō
Descendants
- Catalan: pulcre
- Italian: pulcro
- Portuguese: pulcro
- Spanish: pulcro
References
- pulcher in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- pulcher in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- pulcher in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
- pulcher in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- pulcher in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 496