See also: Dexter

English

edit

Etymology

edit

Learned borrowing from Latin dexter (right).

Pronunciation

edit
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɛks.tə/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɛks.tɝ/
  • Audio (UK):(file)

Adjective

edit

dexter (not comparable)

  1. (archaic outside heraldry) Right; on the right-hand side. (In heraldry, specifically the bearer's right, which is the viewer's left.)
    Antonym: sinister
    • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], column 2:
      my Mothers bloud / Runs on the dexter checke, and this ſiniſter / Bounds in my fathers:
    • 1887, George William Foote with J. M. Wheeler, Crimes of Christianity, London: Progressive Publishing:
      Displaying his dexter palm, he exclaimed that there was a hand that never took a bribe; whereupon a smart auditor cried "How about the one behind your back?"
    • 1911, Saki, ‘The Match-Maker’, The Chronicles of Clovis:
      Clovis wiped the trace of Turkish coffee and the beginnings of a smile from his lips, and slowly lowered his dexter eyelid.
    • 1998 July 6, Auguste Vachon, Claire Boudreau, Daniel Cogné, Genealogica & Heraldica: Ottawa 1996, University of Ottawa Press, →ISBN, page 324:
      [] the dexter lion being gorged  []

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit

Noun

edit

dexter (plural dexters)

  1. (archaic outside heraldry) The right side (of a building, an equation, a heraldic shield [from the wearer's perspective], etc).
    • 1879, London Mathematical Society, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, page 112:
      Subtracting the second from the first, the third from the second and the first from the third successively, we obtain, after transposition, the following identities: — [several equations]
      But, the sinisters being exact differentials, the dexters are so. Consequently [...]
    • 1971, Debala Mitra, Buddhist Monuments:
      On the dexter of the court is a long hall with an arched ceiling and a door, leading to a small oblong shrine with a vaulted ceiling.

Translations

edit

See also

edit

Latin

edit

Alternative forms

edit
  • dester (Vulgar or Late Latin, Pompeian inscriptions)

Etymology

edit

From Proto-Italic *deksteros, from Proto-Indo-European *deḱs-tero-s, from *deḱs- (right). Cognate with Ancient Greek δεξιτερός (dexiterós), and compare δεξιός (dexiós), Old High German zesawa (right hand, right hand side), Sanskrit दक्षिण (dákṣiṇa), Old Church Slavonic деснъ (desnŭ, right).

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

dexter (feminine dextra or dextera, neuter dextrum or dexterum, comparative dexterior, superlative dextimus); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er; two different stems)

  1. right (relative direction), right hand
    Antonyms: laevus, scaevus, sinister
  2. skillful
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.291–292:
      “‘[...] Sī Pergama dextrā
      dēfendī possent, etiam hāc dēfēnsa fuissent.’”
      [Aeneas dreams of Hector, who tells him to flee, not fight:] “‘If Trojan [towers] could have been defended by [any] skillful [hand], [then] certainly by this [hand of mine] they would have been able to be defended.’”
  3. fortunate, favorable
  4. proper, fitting

Declension

edit

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er; two different stems).

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative dexter dextra
dextera
dextrum
dexterum
dextrī
dexterī
dextrae
dexterae
dextra
dextera
Genitive dextrī
dexterī
dextrae
dexterae
dextrī
dexterī
dextrōrum
dexterōrum
dextrārum
dexterārum
dextrōrum
dexterōrum
Dative dextrō
dexterō
dextrō
dexterō
dextrīs
dexterīs
Accusative dextrum
dexterum
dextram
dexteram
dextrum
dexterum
dextrōs
dexterōs
dextrās
dexterās
dextra
dextera
Ablative dextrō
dexterō
dextrā
dexterā
dextrō
dexterō
dextrīs
dexterīs
Vocative dexter dextra
dextera
dextrum
dexterum
dextrī
dexterī
dextrae
dexterae
dextra
dextera

Derived terms

edit

Descendants

edit

References

edit
  • dexter”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • dexter”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • dexter in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) to give one's hand to some one: manum (dextram) alicui porrigere
    • (ambiguous) to give one's right hand to some one: dextram alicui porrigere, dare
    • (ambiguous) to shake hands with a person: dextram iungere cum aliquo, dextras inter se iungere

Romanian

edit

Etymology

edit

Learned borrowing from Latin dexter.

Adjective

edit

dexter m or n (feminine singular dexteră, masculine plural dexteri, feminine and neuter plural dextere)

  1. dexterous

Declension

edit

References

edit
  • dexter in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN