forfex

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin forfex.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːɹfɛks/

Noun

forfex (plural forfices)

1. (obsolete) A pair of shears.
   • 1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, canto:

     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

References

• “forfex”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Latin

Etymology

According to de Vaan, from Proto-Italic *forðom, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerdʰ- (“to capture, shear”), and cognate with Umbrian [script needed] (furfant, “to do something (probably shearing) to sheep”), Ancient Greek πέρθω (pérthō, “to sack, to ravage”), and πορθέω (porthéō, “to pillage”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfor.feks/, [ˈfɔrfɛks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfor.feks/, [ˈfɔrfeks]

Noun

forfex f or m (genitive forficis); third declension

1. pair of shears or scissors

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	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
  • → Venetan: 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
• Venetan: forfeze (Padova), forbeze (Verona)
• → Portuguese: fórfice

References

• “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
• forfex in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “fŏrfex”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 257