Afer

See also: afer, and afër

Latin

Etymology

The term is derived from a Punic or a Berber term for the country in which the city of Carthage was located. It is possibly derived from an ethnonym, a name of an indigenous tribe encountered by the Phoenician colonists, or perhaps related to Punic 𐤏𐤐𐤓 (ʿpr /⁠ʿafar⁠/, “dust”) akin to Biblical Hebrew עָפָר (ʿāp̄ār, “dust”), or alternatively from a Berber language ⵉⴼⵔⵉ (ifri, “cave”), denoting cave dwellers. Flavius Josephus derived the ethnonym from the name of Abraham's grandson, Epher. The name is perhaps related to the tribal name Ifran recorded by medieval Arab authors.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈaː.fer/, [ˈäːfɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.fer/, [ˈäːfer]

Adjective

Āfer (feminine Āfra, neuter Āfrum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

1. from Africa (the region of modern-day Tunisia)

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	Āfer	Āfra	Āfrum		Āfrī	Āfrae	Āfra
genitive	Āfrī	Āfrae	Āfrī		Āfrōrum	Āfrārum	Āfrōrum
dative	Āfrō	Āfrae	Āfrō		Āfrīs
accusative	Āfrum	Āfram	Āfrum		Āfrōs	Āfrās	Āfra
ablative	Āfrō	Āfrā	Āfrō		Āfrīs
vocative	Āfer	Āfra	Āfrum		Āfrī	Āfrae	Āfra

Proper noun

Āfer m (genitive Āfrī); second declension

1. (Roman Republic) a Carthaginian
2. (Roman Empire) cognomen applied to a native of the province of Africa:
   1. Publius Terentius Afer, a Roman playwright

Declension

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

	singular	plural
nominative	Āfer	Āfrī
genitive	Āfrī	Āfrōrum
dative	Āfrō	Āfrīs
accusative	Āfrum	Āfrōs
ablative	Āfrō	Āfrīs
vocative	Āfer	Āfrī

Derived terms

• Āfricus
• Āfricānus
• Āfrica

References

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