levir

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin lēvir.

Noun

levir (plural levirs)

1. A husband's brother.
   • 2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 236:

     The tie between the childless widow and the levir exists automatically from the moment of widowhood. Thus a sexual relationship with anyone other than the levir would be adulterous, an offense punishable by the death penalty, according to Lev. 20:10 and Deut. 22:22.

   • 2008, Deborah L. Ellens, Women in the Sex Texts of Leviticus and Deuteronomy: A Comparative Conceptual Analysis, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 261:

     Levirate marriage protects a levir's sexual property and a dead man's entitlement. The former, however, serves the latter.

Usage notes

• Used in reference to levirate marriages.

Anagrams

• Elvir, Liver, ervil, liver, livre, rivel, viler

Ido

Verb

levir

1. past infinitive of levar

Latin

Alternative forms

• laevir

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dayh₂wḗr (“one's brother-in-law”). For initial l- compare lingua, lacrima. The expected *-ver was possibly altered under the influence of vir (“man”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈleː.u̯ir/, [ˈɫ̪eːu̯ɪr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.vir/, [ˈlɛːvir]

Noun

lēvir m (genitive lēvirī); second declension

1. (Late Latin) one's husband's brother

   Coordinate term: glōs f

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -r).

	singular	plural
nominative	lēvir	lēvirī
genitive	lēvirī	lēvirōrum
dative	lēvirō	lēvirīs
accusative	lēvirum	lēvirōs
ablative	lēvirō	lēvirīs
vocative	lēvir	lēvirī

Descendants

• → English: levir, ⇒ levirate (learned)

Further reading

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