felinus

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin fēlēs

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos

Proto-Italic *-īnos

Latin -īnus

Latin fēlīnus

From fēlēs (“cat”) + -īnus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [feːˈliː.nʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [feˈliː.nus]

Adjective

fēlīnus (feminine fēlīna, neuter fēlīnum); first/second-declension adjective

1. feline; of or pertaining to a cat
   • 1570, Anthony van Cuyck, Grammatica gallica, page 16:

     Iau, miauler, est vocem felinam edere.

     (The triphthong) iau, (as in) miauler, is to emit a cat's cry.

   • 1652, Christoph Scheiner, Oculus, Liber I, Pars I, Cap. IV:

     Nam fundus Choroidis taurinae caeruleus, felinae flavus existit, &c.

     For the bottom of the taurine Choroid appears blue, the feline, yellow, and so on.

   • 1750, Jan Frederik Gronovius, Index supellectilis lapidea, page 10:

     Lapis felinus, qui ferro attritus urinam felium redolet.

     The cat-stone, which, rubbed with iron, smells like the urine of cats.

   • 1811, Peter Simon Pallas, Zoographia rosso-asiatica, volume I, page 14:

     In felino genere animalitas ad summum gradum evecta et animales spiritus maxime exaltati videntur.

     Within the feline kind are seen animality raised to the highest level and animals particularly elevated of the spirit.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	fēlīnus	fēlīna	fēlīnum		fēlīnī	fēlīnae	fēlīna
genitive	fēlīnī	fēlīnae	fēlīnī		fēlīnōrum	fēlīnārum	fēlīnōrum
dative	fēlīnō	fēlīnae	fēlīnō		fēlīnīs
accusative	fēlīnum	fēlīnam	fēlīnum		fēlīnōs	fēlīnās	fēlīna
ablative	fēlīnō	fēlīnā	fēlīnō		fēlīnīs
vocative	fēlīne	fēlīna	fēlīnum		fēlīnī	fēlīnae	fēlīna

Related terms

• fēlēs

Descendants

• → Catalan: felí
• → English: feline
• → French: félin
• → Galician: felino
• → Italian: felino
• → Occitan: felin
• → Portuguese: felino
• → Sicilian: filinu
• → Spanish: felino

References

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