Memphitis

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μεμφῑ́της (Memphī́tēs, “Memphite; of Memphis”) and the feminine adjective-forming suffix -ῐς, -ῐδος (-is, -idos). Ultimately from Μέμφις (Mémphis). Compare Nīlōtis f, from Νειλῶτις (Neilôtis), feminine of Νειλώτης (Neilṓtēs).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /memˈpʰiː.tis/, [mɛmˈpʰiːt̪ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /memˈfi.tis/, [memˈfiːt̪is]

Adjective

Memphītis (genitive Memphītidis); third-declension one-termination adjective

1. Memphite; of Memphis; Egyptian
   • 2 CE, Ovid, The Art of Love 3.393:

     Vīsite tūricremās vaccae Memphītidos ārās

     • 1929 translation by J. H. Mozley, G. P. Goold

       Visit the incense-burning altars of the Memphian heifer

   • Juvenal, Saturae 15.122:

     Anne aliam terrā Memphītide siccā / invidiam facerent nōlentī surgere Nīlō?

     • 2004 translation by Susanna Morton Braund

       Was there some other way of making the Nile feel ashamed for refusing to rise, if the land of Memphis were parched?

   • c. 83 CE – 96 CE, Silius Italicus, Punica 14.660:

     Nōn usquam clārior illō
     glōria pictūrae saeclō; nōn aera iuvābat
     ascīre ex Ephyrē; fulvō certāverit aurō
     vestis, spīrantīs referēns subtēmine vultūs,
     quae radiō caelat Babylōn, vel mūrice pictō
     laeta Tyros, quaeque Attalicīs variāta per artem
     aulaeīs scrībuntur acū aut Memphītide tēlā.

     • 1934 translation by J. D. Duff

       Nowhere in that age was the art of the painter more splendid; Syracuse had no desire to import bronzes from Corinth; and her tapestry, wrought with ruddy gold and reproducing in the woof living likenesses of men, might rival the fabrics wrought by the shuttles of Babylon or by Tyre that prides herself on her embroidered purple; it might match the intricate patterns worked by the needle on the hangings of Attalus or the woven stuffs of Egypt.

   • 507 CE, Avitus of Vienne, Poematum de Mosaicae historiae gestis 5.694:

     Quīn et cōnspicuus princeps Memphītidis aulae,
     Candentēs dūcēns nigrō rēctōre iugālēs,
     Īnspector clādis propriae, gentisque superstes
     Ultimus ingressīs per currum naufragat undīs.

Declension

Third-declension adjective, feminine only.

	singular	plural
nominative	Memphītis	Memphītidēs Memphītides
genitive	Memphītidis Memphītidos	Memphītidum
dative	Memphītidī	Memphītidibus
accusative	Memphītidem Memphītida	Memphītidēs Memphītidas
ablative	Memphītide	Memphītidibus
vocative	Memphītis	Memphītidēs Memphītides

Only used in the feminine.

References

• “Memphis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Memphis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.