Pharsalia

From Latin Pharsālia (“the region of Pharsalus”), borrowed as a title for Lucan's poem from a line in the work itself: “Pharsālia nostra / vīvet” (“Our Pharsalia / will live”, book 9, lines 985–6). The original Latin title was Dē Bellō Cīvīlī (“On the Civil War”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfɑːˈseɪli.ə/
• Rhymes: -eɪliə

Pharsalia

1. An epic poem by the Roman poet Lucan describing Caesar's Civil War.
2. (historical) The Battle of Pharsalus of 48 B.C.E.
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

     […] ev’ry Time he’s named
     Pharſalia rises to my View—I ſee
     Th’ Inſulting Tyrant prancing o’er the Field
     Strow’d with Rome’s Citizens, and drench’d in Slaughter,
     His Horſe’s Hoofs wet with Patrician Blood.

   • 1931, Ernst Kantorowicz, translated by Emily Lorimer, Frederick the Second, page 202:

     […] much as Caesar's tale of portents on the day of Pharsalia, showed Caesar in harmony with the Roman Pantheon.

3. (historical) The region around Pharsalus (modern Farsala), a Greek town.

• Pharsalian

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Φᾰρσᾱλῐ́ᾱ (Phărsālĭ́ā).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [pʰarˈsaː.li.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [farˈsaː.li.a]

Pharsālia f sg (genitive Pharsāliae); first declension

1. The region around Pharsalus.
2. The Battle of Pharsalus of 48 B.C.E.
3. Lucan's poem, the Pharsalia.

First-declension noun, singular only.

• Pharsalia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “Pharsalia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers