formatrix

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin fōrmātrīx. By surface analysis, form +‎ -ate +‎ -trix.

Noun

formatrix (plural formatrixes or formatrices)

1. (obsolete) A formative faculty.
   • 1665, R[obert] Hooke, “Obſerv[ation]. XX. Of blue Mould, and of the firſt Principles of Vegetation ariſing from Putrefaction.”, in Micrographia: Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 130:

     By which laſt Obſervables, we ſee that there may be very pretty body ſhap’d and concreeted by Mechanical principles, without the leaſt ſhew or probability of any other ſeminal formatrix.

References

• “formatrix, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “formatrix, n.”, in Merriam-Webster Online, Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1996–present.

Latin

Etymology

From fōrmō + -trīx.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [foːrˈmaː.triːks]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [forˈmaː.triks]
• Hyphenation: fōr‧mā‧trīx

Noun

fōrmātrīx f (genitive fōrmātrīcis, masculine fōrmātor); third declension

1. female equivalent of fōrmātor
   • c. 160 CE – c. 225 CE, Tertullianus, Monogamia 17 (quoted in L&S):

     rēgīna [Dīdō] tantæ cīvitātis fōrmātrīx

     Queen [Dido] the foundress of such a great city

   • c. 1264, John de Siccavilla [alias Sackville or de Secheville], De principiis naturæ 130 (ed. R. M. Giguère (Univ. Montreal, Institut d’études médiévales XIV) [Montreal & Paris, 1956]; quoted in DMLBS):

     dīcere […] quod virtūtēs fōrmātrīcēs in fīne operāciōnum suārum corrumpuntur

     to say […] that the formative powers are destroyed at the end of their operations

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	fōrmātrīx	fōrmātrīcēs
genitive	fōrmātrīcis	fōrmātrīcum
dative	fōrmātrīcī	fōrmātrīcibus
accusative	fōrmātrīcem	fōrmātrīcēs
ablative	fōrmātrīce	fōrmātrīcibus
vocative	fōrmātrīx	fōrmātrīcēs

Further reading

• “formātrix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• fōrmātrīx in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 2817
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “formatrix”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• “formatrix”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 680, column 1.
• "FORMATRIX", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)