ferine

From Latin ferīnus, from fera (“wild animal”). The zoological sense was coined by William Whewell in 1840.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɪəɹaɪn/

ferine (comparative more ferine, superlative most ferine)

1. (now rare) Pertaining to wild, menacing animals; feral.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 162:

     the season of rutting (an uncouth phrase, by which the vulgar denote that gentle dalliance, which in the well-wooded forest of Hampshire, passes between lovers of the ferine kind) […]

2. (zoology, obsolete) Belonging to the proposed taxon of bats, carnivorans, and insectivorans.

ferine (plural ferines)

1. (zoology, obsolete) A member of the proposed taxon of bats, carnivorans, and insectivorans.

• Feiner, enfire, fineer, refine

ferine

1. feminine plural of ferino

From ferīnus +‎ -ē.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /feˈriː.neː/, [fɛˈriːneː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /feˈri.ne/, [feˈriːne]

ferīnē (comparative ferīnius, superlative ferīnissimē)

1. brutishly

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /feˈriː.ne/, [fɛˈriːnɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /feˈri.ne/, [feˈriːne]

ferīne

1. vocative masculine singular of ferīnus

From *fer-iō, *fer-iōn-, from Proto-Italic *ferō (“to bear”). Compare Latin ferculum. By surface analysis, ferom (“to bear, bring, carry”) +‎ -inem.

ferine(n) f sg

1. locative of *ferinem f sg (“tray, bier, palanquin, sedan chair”)
   • early 2^nd century BCE, Iguvine Tablets, table I, side A (photo; facsimile), lines 4:

     ⁴ 𐌅𐌀𐌕𐌖𐌅𐌀𐌚𐌄𐌓𐌉𐌍𐌄:​𐌚𐌄𐌉𐌕𐌖:​ [...]

     vatuva ferine feitu

     Sacrifice the ribs on a tray.

• Buck, Carl Darling (1904) A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian: With a Collection of Inscriptions and a Glossary, page 126
• Ancillotti, Augusto; Cerri, Romolo (2015), “ferine”, in Vocabolario dell'umbro delle tavole di Gubbio [Vocabulary of Umbrian and of the Iguvine Tables] (in Italian), page 20
• Poultney, James Wilson (1959), “ferine”, in The Bronze Tables of Iguvium, page 307