severus

According to De Vaan, from Proto-Italic *seɣwēros, from a collective derivation of the noun Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰwr̥, from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold”).[1]

Other etymologists, such as Meiser, posit this word to be from se- + verus, but De Vaan notes a heavy semantic mismatch.[1]

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /seˈu̯eː.rus/, [s̠eˈu̯eːrʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /seˈve.rus/, [seˈvɛːrus]

sevērus (feminine sevēra, neuter sevērum, comparative sevērior, superlative sevērissimus); first/second-declension adjective

1. severe, serious, strict, stern, stringent, austere, harsh, grave (in demeanor)

   Synonyms: trux, ferōx, atrōx, violēns, immānis, efferus, ferus, crūdēlis, barbaricus, silvāticus, acerbus, ācer

   Antonyms: mītis, tranquillus, misericors, placidus, quietus, clemens

First/second-declension adjective.

• sevēritās
• sevēritūdō
• assevērō

• “severus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “severus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• severus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be brought up under strict discipline: severa disciplina contineri
    
  • a stern critic of morals: severus morum castigator
    
  • to be a strict disciplinarian in one's household: severum imperium in suis exercere, tenere (De Sen. 11. 37)
    
• “severus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “severus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “severe”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.