Etymologically
Log in

aedilicius

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 03:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ae̯.diːˈlɪ.ki.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [e.diˈliː.t͡ʃi.us][1]

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]

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