levir

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin levir.

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.

Usage notes

• Used in reference to levirate marriages.

Anagrams

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

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Ido

Verb

levir

1. past infinitive of levar

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Latin

Alternative forms

• laevir

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *daiwēr, from Proto-Indo-European *dayh₂wḗr (“one's brother-in-law”), with its ending altered under the influence of vir (“man”). For /*d/ > /l/ cf. Old Latin dingua and Classical Latin lingua.

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

Declension

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

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lēvir	lēvirī
Genitive	lēvirī	lēvirōrum
Dative	lēvirō	lēvirīs
Accusative	lēvirum	lēvirōs
Ablative	lēvirō	lēvirīs
Vocative	lēvir	lēvirī

Descendants

• English: levir, levirate

Antonyms

• glos

References

• “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.