asper - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Middle English aspre, from Old French aspre (modern French âpre), from Latin asper (“rough”).

asper (comparative more asper, superlative most asper)

  1. (obsolete) Rough or harsh; severe, stern, serious.
    • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
      An asper sound.

asper (uncountable)

  1. (phonetics, obsolete) Rough breathing; a mark (#) indicating that part of a word is aspirated, or pronounced with h before it.

From Middle English asper, from Middle French aspre or Italian aspro, both from Ancient Greek ἄσπρον (áspron), from neuter of ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”), from Latin asper (“rough, newly minted”).

asper (plural aspers)

  1. (historical) Any one of several small coins, circulated around the eastern Mediterranean area from the 12th to 17th centuries.

Probably from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂esp- (“to cut”), also present in Ancient Greek ἀσπίς (aspís, “shield”) and Hittite [script needed] (ḫasp-, “to cut down”).[1]

asper (feminine aspera, neuter asperum, comparative asperior, superlative asperrimus, adverb asperē); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er_)_

  1. rough, uneven, coarse
  2. unrefined, rude
  3. sharp, newly minted
  4. harsh, bitter, fierce
    Synonyms: ācer, acerbus, frāctus
    odia asperabitter hatred

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative asper aspera asperum asperī asperae aspera
Genitive asperī asperae asperī asperōrum asperārum asperōrum
Dative asperō asperō asperīs
Accusative asperum asperam asperum asperōs asperās aspera
Ablative asperō asperā asperō asperīs
Vocative asper aspera asperum asperī asperae aspera
  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “asper”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 58

asper m or f

  1. indefinite plural of asp