ABSTRACT
The derivation from ferire seems to prevail, based as it is on the comments of Festus; he seems to have given substance to this idea by mentioning a stone in the god’s old temple used for the purpose of foedus ferire. One may assume that the first temple on the Capitolium was a Jupiter shrine of a more general kind for the highest god. This explains the other objects contained in it: the silex used by the fetiales when striking the victim to conclude a treaty or a sceptrum when swearing solemn oaths. For one thing, feretrius is a hapax, and adjectives derived from nouns with the suffix trum seem to be quite rare in Latin.
