equiferus

Latin

Etymology

equus (“horse”) +‎ ferus (“wild”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /eˈkʷi.fe.rus/, [ɛˈkʷɪfɛrʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /eˈkwi.fe.rus/, [eˈkwiːferus]

Noun

equiferus m (genitive equiferī); second declension

1. wild horse
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 28.45.159:

     De equiferis non scripserunt Graeci, quoniam terrae illae non gignebant, verum tamen fortiora omnia eadem quam in equis intellegi debent.

     • Translation by W. H. S. Jones

       About wild horses the Greeks have not written, because Greek lands did not breed them, but it must be inferred that all remedies from them are more potent than from the tame animal.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	equiferus	equiferī
genitive	equiferī	equiferōrum
dative	equiferō	equiferīs
accusative	equiferum	equiferōs
ablative	equiferō	equiferīs
vocative	equifere	equiferī

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: *eciferus
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: zevro, *ezevro, ezebro, zebro
    • Galician: cebro
    • Portuguese: zebro, zebra (see there for further descendants)

References

• “equiferus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “equiferus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers