favus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin favus (“honeycomb”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪvəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvəs

Noun

favus (countable and uncountable, plural favi)

1. (medicine) A severe, chronic infection of ringworm.
   • 1901 July 19, “Favus in Poultry”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record‎^[1], volume 4, number 10, page 317:

     The first signs of an attack of favus are small, pale, irregular, cup-like spots on the comb or wattles, generally appearing on the comb first.

2. A tile or flagstone cut into a hexagonal shape to produce a honeycomb pattern.

Derived terms

• favose

Translations

infection

• Azerbaijani: keçəllik
• French: favus (fr) m, teigne faveuse f
• German: Erbgrind (de) m
• Greek: κασίδα (el) f (kasída)
• Italian: tigna favosa f
• Russian: парша́ (ru) f (paršá), фа́вус (ru) m (fávus)
• Spanish: favus m, tiña fávica f

References

• “favus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin favus (“honeycomb”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.vys/

Noun

favus m (uncountable)

1. favus

Further reading

• “favus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

favus (honeycomb)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to swell, grow, thrive, be, live, dwell”). Related to English build.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.u̯us/, [ˈfäu̯ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.vus/, [ˈfäːvus]

Noun

favus m (genitive favī); second declension

1. honeycomb
   • 4th-century CE, Jerome of Stridon (St. Jerome), Vulgate, 24:13:

     comede fīlī mī mel quia bonum est et favum dulcissimum gutturī tuō

     Eat honey, my son, because it is good, and the honeycomb most sweet to thy throat.

     (trans. Douay-Rheims Bible)

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.745–746:

     ut satyrī levisque senex tetigēre sapōrem,
     quaerēbant flāvōs per nemus omne favōs

     Since the satyrs and the bald-headed old man [Silenus] had tasted its flavor,
     they were searching for the golden yellow honeycombs through all the grove.
     (Note the poetic word play in the consonance and assonance of ‘‘flāvōs favōs.’’ For more honeyed mythology, see Liber, Dionysus, Silenus, and The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus.)

2. a hexagonal pavement stone

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	favus	favī
genitive	favī	favōrum
dative	favō	favīs
accusative	favum	favōs
ablative	favō	favīs
vocative	fave	favī

Descendants

• English: favus
• Esperanto: favo (“ringworm, scurf”)
• French: favus
• Galician: favo
• Italian: favo
• Portuguese: favo
• Romanian: fag, fagure
• Sicilian: favu
• Spanish: favo, havo

References

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French favus.

Noun

favus n (plural favusuri)

1. favus

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	favus	favusul		favusuri	favusurile
genitive-dative	favus	favusului		favusuri	favusurilor
vocative	favusule			favusurilor