Februarius

See also: februarius

English

Etymology

From Latin Februārius.

Proper noun

Februarius

1. (historical) The shortest month of the Ancient Roman calendar, from which the Julian and Gregorian month of February derived.

Latin

Alternative forms

• februārius (alternative case form)
• Febrārius (Late Latin, proscribed)

Etymology

From Februa ‎ -ārius. From februum (“means of purification, an offering”), via the purification ritual Februa held on February 15 in the old Roman calendar.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /fe.bruˈaː.ri.us/, [fɛbruˈäːriʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /fe.bruˈa.ri.us/, [februˈäːrius]

Adjective

Februārius (feminine Februāria, neuter Februārium); first/second-declension adjective

1. of February

Usage notes

In Classical Latin, month names were regularly used as adjectives, generally modifying a case-form of mēnsis m sg (“month”) or of one of the nouns used in the Roman calendar to refer to specific days of the month from which other days were counted: Calendae f pl (“calends”), Nōnae f pl (“nones”), Īdūs f pl (“ides”). However, the masculine noun mēnsis could be omitted by ellipsis, so the masculine singular forms of month names eventually came to be used as proper nouns.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	Februārius	Februāria	Februārium		Februāriī	Februāriae	Februāria
Genitive	Februāriī	Februāriae	Februāriī		Februāriōrum	Februāriārum	Februāriōrum
Dative	Februāriō		Februāriō		Februāriīs
Accusative	Februārium	Februāriam	Februārium		Februāriōs	Februāriās	Februāria
Ablative	Februāriō	Februāriā	Februāriō		Februāriīs
Vocative	Februārie	Februāria	Februārium		Februāriī	Februāriae	Februāria

Proper noun

Februārius m sg (genitive Februāriī or Februārī); second declension

1. February (short for mēnsis Februārius)

Declension

Second-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Februārius
Genitive	Februāriī Februārī1
Dative	Februāriō
Accusative	Februārium
Ablative	Februāriō
Vocative	Februārī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• Late Latin: Febrārius (see there for further descendants)

• Eastern Romance
  • Aromanian: flivrar
  • Romanian: făurar
• Franco-Provençal: fevriér
• Gallo-Italic
  • Ligurian: frevâ
  • Lombard: febrar
  • Piedmontese: fërvé
• Italo-Dalmatian
  • Corsican: ferraghju, farraghju, frivaghju
  • Dalmatian: februar
  • Italian: febbraio
  • Neapolitan: frevaro
  • Sicilian: frivaru
• Old French: fevrier
  • French: février
    • Haitian Creole: fevriye
    • → Iranian Persian: فوریه (fevriye)
    • → South Azerbaijani: فئوریه (fevriyə)
    • → Tunisian Arabic: فيفري (fīvrī)
  • Norman: février, Févri, févryi, févérier, fevri
  • Walloon: fevrî
  • → Middle English: feoverel
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: febrer
  • Occitan: febrièr, febrier, heurèr
• Rhaeto-Romance
  • Friulian: Fevrâr
  • Ladin: fauré, firé
  • Romansch: favrer, fevrer (Sursilvan)
• Sardinian: fiàrzu, freàrgiu
• Venetian: febraro
  • → Cimbrian: febraaro, fevraro (Luserna)
• West Iberian
  • Extremaduran: hebreru
  • Navarro-Aragonese:
    • Aragonese: febrero
  • Old Leonese:
    • Asturian: febreru
    • Mirandese: Febreiro
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: fevreyro, frebreyro, febreyro, fevereyro, fevereiro
    • Fala: febreiru, febereiru
    • Galician: febreiro
    • Portuguese: fevereiro (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish:
    • Ladino: fevrero
    • Spanish: hebrero; febrero (semi-learned) (see there for further descendants)

Borrowings

• → Albanian: fror, fruer
• → Arabic: فبراير (fibrāyir)
• → Dutch: februari
• → German: Februar, Feber (Austria, dated)
  • → Estonian: veebruar
  • → Kashubian: februar
  • → Luxembourgish: Februar
• → Ancient Greek: Φεβρουάριος (Phebrouários) (see there for further descendants)
• → Middle English: Februarie, februari, februare
  • English: February (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: Februar
• → Latvian: februāris
• → Old Irish: febra, febrae
  • Irish: Feabhra
• → Romanian: februarie
• → Romanian: fevruarie (via some Slavic language)
• → West Frisian: febrewaris
• → Welsh: Chwefror

See also

• Roman calendar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• “Fĕbrŭārĭus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Februārius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fĕbrŭārĭus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette: “657/3”
• “Februārius” on page 683/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)