femina

See also: fémina

English

Etymology

From Latin fēmina (“woman”), perhaps via Italian femmina. Doublet of feme, femme, and hembra.

Noun

femina (plural femina or feminas)

1. A wing feather from a female ostrich.
   • 1881, Arthur Douglass, “Preparing the Feathers for Market”, in Ostrich Farming in South Africa. Being an Account of Its Origin and Rise; How to set about it; The Profits to be derived; How to Manage the Birds; The Capital required; the Diseases and Difficulties to be met with, &c. &c., London, Paris, New York, N.Y.: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.; London: S. W. Silver & Co., […], page 84:

     The numbers are given here to show all the whites together, and then the feminas, &c.; but in sending them to market it is better to arrange the numbers so that a lot of whites are followed by a lot of feminas, then a lot of whites again, then a lot of fancy colours, then whites again, and so on right through.

   • 1895 June 12, “London Produce”, in Liverpool Mercury, and Lancashire, Cheshire, and General Advertiser, number 14,803, Liverpool, page 8, column 6:

     Feathers. — The auctions will comprise 3168 cases, containing 58,000lbs., against 53,800lb. in last sales. There was a good demand, and white and white and light Femina best quality were firm, seconds and inferior 10s. to 15s. per lb. higher.

   • 1899 September 8, “The Ostrich Feather Market”, in Democrat and Chronicle, 67th year, Rochester, N.Y., page 15, column 5:

     A noticeable feature of the sales was the quantity of fine goods, principally of white and feminas. The best white qualities and good broken brought 10 per cent. to 15 per cent. advance, while other qualities sold firmly. White and light femina were also 10 to 15 per cent. dearer, principally for the best lines. Dark femina and byocks were 10 per cent. higher.

   • 1909, Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope, page 514:

     3.—Wing-Quills or Remiges; Whites and Feminas.—The wing-quills are the largest feathers in the wing, and are arranged in a single row. They include the “Whites” in the cock, and the “Feminas” in the hen, as well as the “Byocks” or “Fancies” in the cock.

   • 1909 August 12, “Ostrich Feathers of Tripoli”, in Neenah Daily Times, volume 53, number 8,451, Neenah, Wis., Menasha, Wis., column 5:

     The usual kinds of ostrich feathers known to the trade come into the Tripoli market. These are whites, blacks, feminas, byocks, spadonas, boos, drabs and floss.

   • 1912 July 17, The Boston Daily Globe, volume LXXXII, number 17, Boston, Mass., page 16, column 5:

     The feminas brought from $97.35 to $109.50, while spadones were sacrificed at from $34 to $47.45.

   • 1913, The Agricultural Journal of British East Africa, page 8:

     It is somewhat larger than the Southern bird and the plumage of young birds and also the feminas are darker.

   • 1921 September 7, The New York Times, volume LXX, number 23,237, New York, N.Y., page 24, column 6:

     RAW OSTRICH FEATHERS / Primes, Wings, White Feminas, Spads, Etc.

   • 1923, South African Law Reports. Cape Provincial Division: Decisions of the Supreme Court of South Africa (Cape of Good Hope Provincial Decision)., page 532:

     This parcel included 286 lbs. of feathers known as whites, and 211 lbs. of feathers known as feminas. The whites are described as lot 12, and the feminas as lot 13.

Esperanto

Etymology

From femino (“woman”) +‎ -a.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [feˈmina]
• Rhymes: -ina
• Hyphenation: fe‧min‧a

Adjective

femina (accusative singular feminan, plural feminaj, accusative plural feminajn)

1. feminine (of women), women's

   Synonym: virina

Usage notes

Relatively uncommon; the synonym virina is generally used instead.

Gallurese

Alternative forms

• femmina (Aggius)

Etymology

Inherited from Latin fēmina, from Proto-Italic *fēmanā, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁m̥h₁néh₂ (“(the one) nursing, breastfeeding”), the feminine mediopassive participle of *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suck, suckle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛmina/

Noun

femina f (plural femini)

1. woman

Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from English feminine, French féminin, Italian femminile, Spanish femenino, from Latin fēminīnus from fēmina (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥n-eh₂ (“(the one) nursing, breastfeeding”).

Adjective

femina

1. female, feminine

Antonyms

• maskula (“male, masculine”)

Derived terms

• femino (“female”)
• feminala (“female”)
• feminalo (“feminine gender”)
• feminismo (“feminism”)

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfe.mi.na/

Noun

femina (plural feminas)

1. woman
2. female

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “woman”): viro (“man”)
• (antonym(s) of “female”): masculo (“male”)

Related terms

• feminin

Latin

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *fēmanā, from earlier *θēmanā, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂ (“[the one] nursing, breastfeeding”), the feminine mediopassive participle of *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suck, suckle”). Related to fellō, fētus, fīlius.

Alternative forms

• foemina (Medieval Latin)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfeː.mi.na/, [ˈfeːmɪnä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfe.mi.na/, [ˈfɛːminä]

Noun

fēmina f (genitive fēminae); first declension

1. woman
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.361–364:

     conveniunt, quibus aut odium crudele tyranni
     aut metus acer erat; navis, quae forte paratae,
     corripiunt, onerantque auro: portantur avari
     Pygmalionis opes pelago; dux femina facti.

     Those came together that either felt ruthless hate or bitter fear for their tyrant. They seized ships that had incidentally already been arranged and loaded them with gold. The treasures of avaricious Pygmalion were carried to the sea; the leader of the action was a woman.

2. wife
3. (of animals) female
   • 234 BCE – 149 BCE, Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura 134.1:

     Prius quam messim facies, porcam praecidaneam hoc modo fieri oportet. Cereri porca praecidanea porco femina, prius quam hasce fruges condantur: far, triticum, hordeum, fabam, semen rapicium. thure, vino Iano Iovi Iunoni praefato, prius quam porcum feminam immolabis.

     Before you carry out the harvest, it is proper to offer the porca praecidanea in this manner. Offer to Ceres a female pig as porca praecidanea before these crops are stored: emmer, wheat, barley, beans, and rapeseed. With incense and wine, offer a prayer to Janus, Jupiter, and Juno before you sacrifice the female pig.

   • 45 BCE, Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.128:

     Nam primum aliae (bestiae) mares, aliae feminae sunt, quod perpetuitatis causa machinata natura est, deinde partes corporis et ad procreandum et ad concipiendum aptissimae, et in mari et in femina commiscendorum corporum mirae libidines; [...]

     To begin with, some of them (animals) are of gender males, others females, the which is for nature's perpetuity wrought, whence of each their parts in procreation and conceiving be optimal, and so the wanton desires in male and female towards sexual union of their own body; [...]

   • c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 4.3.3.6:

     “Paelicem” autem appellatam probrosamque habitam, quae iuncta consuetaque esset cum eo in cuius manu mancipioque alia matrimonii causa foret, hac antiquissima lege ostenditur, quam Numae regis fuisse accepimus: “Paelex aedem Iunonis ne tangito; si tangit, Iunoni crinibus demissis agnum feminam caedito.”

     • 1927 translation by John C. Rolfe

       Moreover, a woman was called paelex, or “concubine,” and regarded as infamous, if she lived on terms of intimacy with a man who had another woman under his legal control in a state of matrimony, as is evident from this very ancient law, which we are told was one of king Numa’s: “Let no concubine touch the temple of Juno; if she touch it, let her, with hair unbound, offer up a ewe lamb to Juno.”

4. (grammar) the feminine gender

Usage notes

Aside from its use as an independent noun, it is often used appositively with the sense "female" to modify another noun (compare the coordinate term mās (“male”)). It can be used this way with either grammatically feminine or grammatically masculine nouns and retains first-declension forms in either case, as in "Caere porcus biceps et agnus mas idem feminaque natus erat" ("At Caere a two-headed piglet and a lamb-M.SG (that was) male and at the same time female was born-M.SG").

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	fēmina	fēminae
genitive	fēminae	fēminārum
dative	fēminae	fēminīs
accusative	fēminam	fēminās
ablative	fēminā	fēminīs
vocative	fēmina	fēminae

Synonyms

• (woman): mulier, vira (hapax, mentioning Old Latin)
• (wife): uxor
• (grammar): genus fēminīnum

Coordinate terms

• mās

Derived terms

• fēmella
• fēmellārius
• fēminātus
• fēmineus
• fēminīnē
• fēminīnus
• fēminō

 

Descendants

• Dalmatian:
  • femia
• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: feamin
  • Romanian: famen
  • → Albanian: femër, femën — Gheg
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: femina
  • Istriot: fimana
  • Italian: femmina
  • Neapolitan: femmena
  • Sicilian: fìmmina
• Sardinian:
  • femina, emina, femia
• Padanian:
  • Lombard: femna, fomna, fonna
  • Friulian: femine
  • Ladin: femena
  • Piedmontese: fomna, fombra, fomla
  • Romansch: femna
  • Venetan: fémena
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: fèna
  • Old French: fame, fam, feme
    • Bourbonnais-Berrichon: fonne
    • Bourguignon: fanne, fonne
    • Champenois: fanme, fonme, fomme
    • Gallo: fame, fom
    • Lorrain: fomme
    • Middle French: femme (see there for further descendants)
    • Norman: femme, fâme, faume, faumme (Guernsey), foume (continental Normandy), fenme (Cotentin), foume, fenme
    • Picard: fanme, féme, feume
    • Walloon: feme
    • → Middle English: femme, feme
      • English: femme, feme
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: fembra
  • Old Occitan: femna, feme
    • Occitan: femna, (Gascon) hemna, frema
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: fema
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: femea, femẽa, femẽa
    • Galician: femia, fema, fémea
    • Portuguese: fêmeo, fêmea
  • Old Spanish: femna, fembra, fembra
    • Spanish: hembra
      • → English: hembra
• Borrowings:
  • → Ido: femino
  • → English: femina (perhaps via Italian)
  • → Spanish: fémina

Etymology 2

See femur.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfe.mi.na/, [ˈfɛmɪnä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfe.mi.na/, [ˈfɛːminä]

Noun

femina

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of femur

Etymology 3

Inflected form of feminō.

Verb

feminā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of feminō

References

• “fēmĭna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “femina”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• femina 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)
• fēmĭna in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.