Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Fescennine

Fes′cen-nine

,
Adj.
[L.
Fescenninus
, fr.
Fescennia
, a city of Etruria.]
Pertaining to, or resembling, the Fescennines.
Noun.
A style of low, scurrilous, obscene poetry originating in fescennia.

Webster 1828 Edition


Fescennine

FES'CENNINE

,
Adj.
Pertaining to Fescennium in Italy; licentious.

FES'CENNINE

,
Noun.
A nuptial song, or a licentious song.

Definition 2024


Fescennine

Fescennine

See also: fescennine

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

Fescennine (comparative more Fescennine, superlative most Fescennine)

  1. Of or pertaining to the ancient Etruscan town of Fescennia
  2. obscene or scurrilous
    • 1856 Richard Francis Burton, Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El-Madinah and Meccah, G. P. Putnam & Co., p20
      At this hour the seat was as in a theatre, but the words of the actors were of a nature somewhat too Fescennine for the public.
    • 1977 C. John McCole, Lucifer at Large, Ayer Publishing, p108
      And when Freudian fiction becomes – as it has become in America – but an inviting wall on which to scribble Fescennine filth – that, too, is another matter.

Latin

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /fes.kenˈniː.ne/, [fɛs.kɛnˈniː.nɛ]

Adjective

Fescennīne

  1. vocative masculine singular of Fescennīnus

Noun

Fescennīne m

  1. vocative singular of Fescennīnus

fescennine

fescennine

See also: Fescennine

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

fescennine (comparative more fescennine, superlative most fescennine)

  1. Obscene or scurrilous.
    • 1988 James D. Simmonds, Milton Studies, Volume 6, Univ of Pittsburgh Press, p168
      As the poet decorously shows his desire to consummate the marriage, he retains the fescennine element without being crude.
    • 1995 John Donne & Gary A. Stringer, The variorum edition of the poetry of John Donne: The Epigrams, Epithalamions, Epitaphs, Inscriptions and Miscellaneous poems, Indiana University Press, p380-1
      “The conventional complaint over the delay in the proceedings is voiced by the poet in... [this] series of questions which include fescennine teasing of the bridal couple”
    • 2003 Mark Steven Morton, The Lover's Tongue: A Merry Romp Through the Language of Love and Sex, Insomniac Press, p25
      For instance, I admit that this book is anacreontic, paphian, and sometimes even fescennine [...]

Translations

References

  1. "Fescennine" - Licentious, obscene, scurrilous, Michael Quinion, World Wide Words, accessed 14/7/2010

Italian

Adjective

fescennine

  1. feminine plural of fescennino