foedus

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfoe̯.dus/, [ˈfoe̯d̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfe.dus/, [ˈfɛːd̪us]

Inherited from Proto-Italic *feiðos (“faithful”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ-os, from *bʰeydʰ- (“to trust”). Same root as fīdō, fidēs, fīdus, and Proto-Germanic *bīdaną. Perhaps a corruption from an o-stem.^[1]

foedus n (genitive foederis); third declension

1. (among nations, states, or rulers) treaty, compact, alliance, truce, league

   Synonym: conventum

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.1:

     Inde foedus ictum inter duces

     Then a treaty being made between the commanders

2. (among individuals) agreement, bond, contract, compact, pact, pledge, conditions, terms
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.338–339:

     “[...] Nec coniugis umquam / praetendī taedās, aut haec in foedera vēnī.”

     “Nor did I ever extend the wedding-torches of a bridegroom, or enter into these bonds [with you].”

3. (biblical) covenant

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

• confoedustus
• foederātus
• foederō
• foedifragus

• ⇒ English: federal, foedus rerum
• ⇒ French: fédéral, fédérale
• ⇒ Spanish: federal
• ⇒ Portuguese: federal

From Proto-Italic *foiðos (“afraid”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to frighten; be afraid”).^[2]

foedus (feminine foeda, neuter foedum, comparative foedior, superlative foedissimus, adverb foedē); first/second-declension adjective

1. (physically) filthy, foul, disgusting, loathsome, ugly, unseemly, detestable, abominable, horrible

   Synonyms: nefandus, turpis

2. (mentally) disgraceful, vile, obscene, base, horrible, dreadful, dishonorable, shameful, infamous, foul
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.195:

     Haec passim dea foeda virum diffundit in ōra.

     The disgraceful goddess scatters these [tales] here and there into the mouths of men.
     (The goddess: Fama or Rumor personified.)

First/second-declension adjective.

• foeditās
• foedo

• Asturian: feu
• Italian: fedo
• Old Galician-Portuguese: feo
  • Galician: feo
  • Portuguese: feio
• Spanish: feo

• “foedus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “foedus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• foedus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• foedus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to conclude a treaty, an alliance: foedus facere (cum aliquo), icere, ferire
    
  • to violate a treaty, terms of alliance: foedus frangere, rumpere, violare
    
  • (ambiguous) according to treaty: ex pacto, ex foedere
    
• “foedus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “foedus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin