Note 1331 — MENSIS FEBRUARIUS

Paulus, 85 ‘Quaecumque purgamenti causa in quibusque sacrificiis adhibentur, februa appellantur. Id vero quod purgatur, dicitur februatum.’ The verb februare also occurs. Varro (L. L. 6. 13) says that februum was the Sabine equivalent for purgamentum: ‘Nam et Lupercalia februatio, ut in Antiquitatum libris demonstravi’ (cp. 6. 34). Ovid renders the word by ‘piamen’ (Fasti, 2. 19). Februus, a divinity, is mentioned in Macr. 1. 13. 3; he is almost certainly a later invention (see Lex. Myth. s. v.). The etymology of the word is uncertain.