Sunday Word: Doniferous

[sallymn]

doniferous [ion: do-nif-er-uhs]

adjective:

Bearing gifts

(click to enlarge)
Examples:

Umm.... not really, since 'the only known use of the adjective doniferous is in the mid 1600s.' (Oxford English Dictionary). But this charming fancy was on the Beastly Words website...

(click to enlarge)

Origin:

comprises the stem of donum 'gift' + -fer 'bearing' (from ferre 'to bear, carry') + -ous, an adjective suffix. In Latin the combining form of -fer was always preceded by an -i-, as seen in vociferous, odoriferous, and carboniferous. Donum is the noun from dare 'to give', do 'I give' and underlies another English borrowing, donate. It comes from PIE do- 'to give', which turns up in dat 'to give' and Greek dosis 'something given', which English borrowed for its dose. Ferre 'to bear, carry' comes from the same source as the English verb bear, PIE bher-/bhor- 'to carry, to bear (children)'. Initial bh became ph in Latin, later changing to f. In Russian this word became brat 'to take', beru 'I take'. We find the kin of this PIE word all around English, birth, burden, bier, (wheel)barrow and, of course, all the Latinate borrowings containing -fer: transfer, ferry, fertile. (alphadictionary.com, though I don't vouch for its accuracy!)

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

“Doniferous” certainly applies to a lot of cats. (Particularly the ones who honor you with the select cut that stares reproachfully at you.)

(And now we have a gift-wrapped rhyme for “coniferous”, for any Ogden Nashes out there celebrating the December holiday season.)

[sallymn]

All so true! I'd love to see it in a poem :)

[med_cat]

Love it

[sallymn]

:)