dentifrangibulus

Latin

Etymology

Coined by Plautus, seemingly from dentifrangibulum by personification and transfer from the neuter gender to the masculine, from dēns (“tooth”) +‎ frangō (“break”) +‎ -bulum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /den.ti.franˈɡi.bu.lus/, [d̪ɛn̪t̪ɪfräŋˈɡɪbʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /den.ti.franˈd͡ʒi.bu.lus/, [d̪en̪t̪ifrän̠ʲˈd͡ʒiːbulus]

Noun

dentifrangibulus m (genitive dentifrangibulī); second declension

1. (hapax, humorous) someone who breaks other people’s teeth; a tooth-breaker
   • c. 190 BCE, Plautus, Bacchides 605:

     Par. Valē, dentifrangibule.

     Par. Farewell, tooth-breaker.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	dentifrangibulus	dentifrangibulī
genitive	dentifrangibulī	dentifrangibulōrum
dative	dentifrangibulō	dentifrangibulīs
accusative	dentifrangibulum	dentifrangibulōs
ablative	dentifrangibulō	dentifrangibulīs
vocative	dentifrangibule	dentifrangibulī

Related terms

• dentifrangibulum

References

• “dentĭfrangĭbŭlus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• dentĭfrangĭbŭlus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “dentifrangibulus” in volume 5,1, column 549, line 17 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present