aedilicius

Forms

aedīlicius (feminine aedīlicia, neuter aedīlicium); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled ēd-; the noun has genitive aedīliciī or aedīlicī.^[2] Inscriptions write edilicius.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin aedīlis (“aedile”) + -icius.^[2][1][3] aedīlis is formed on aedēs “temple; house”, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *aiþ- (“fireplace”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)idʰ- (“burning”): the noun first meant the fireplace, then the room with it, and then a one-room temple.^[4] He compares Ancient Greek αἴθω (aíthō, “to burn”) and Old Irish áed (“fire”), and notes that Oscan aídíl was borrowed from Latin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus;^[4] Köbler from Cicero.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is of or connected with an aedile: Cicero writes of an aedile's public show, of a defeat in standing for the aedileship, and of an aedile's clerk, and Livy of the largess given by aediles.^[6][2] It also means one who has held the aedileship, and used as a noun it is an ex-aedile.^[2] In law the aedīliciae āctiōnēs are the actions granted by the aediles' edict, in Pomponius in the Digest.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the adjective.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of an aedile's show and clerk.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the aediles' largess.^[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or connected with an aedile or the aedileship.^[2][6][1]
2. Who has held the aedileship.^[2]

Noun

1. An ex-aedile.^[2]

Related words

• aedīlis
• aedīlitās
• aedēs

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press