ancile

Forms

ancīle n (genitive ancīlis); third declension^[1] The genitive plural is ⟨ancīlium⟩ in Tacitus, but ⟨ancīliōrum⟩ in Horace.^[2][3] The ablative is ⟨ancīle⟩ in Charisius.^[4]

Etymology

De Vaan derives it from ⟨*ambi-kaid-sli-⟩, a compound of ambi- (“around”) and the root of caedō (“to cut”),^[5] and the OLD gives the same analysis.^[3][1] The root goes back to Proto-Italic *kaid-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *keh2id- (“to cut, hew”).^[5] The Romans already explained it this way: Varro and Ovid derive it from ⟨amb-⟩ and ⟨caedere⟩, because the shield was cut away on both sides, and the TLL thinks they were perhaps right.^[6][4] Lewis and Short preferred a derivation from Ancient Greek ἀγκύλος (ankúlos, “crooked, curved”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Ennius' Annals, in a list of religious institutions,^[6][7][8] and Lucilius also mentions ancilia.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The word named a small shield shaped like a figure of eight or narrowed at the waist,^[3] above all the twelve shields kept by the Salii in the shrine of Mars and carried in their processions.^[3] According to the legend Festus reports, one shield fell from heaven in the reign of Numa, with a voice saying that the city would be the most powerful as long as it kept the shield, and others were made like it so that the heavenly one could not be told apart.^[6][2] The shields were carried round each March and then put away again (ancīlia movēre, condere),^[2][4] and Ovid advises a woman who wants to marry to wait until they have been put away.^[6]

In poetry, as in Virgil and Lucan, it could mean any small shield of the old kind.^[4][2] Valerius Maximus and Juvenal use it as an adjective, arma ancīlia and clipeī ancīlēs.^[3][7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius mentions the ancilia.^[6][8]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius mentions them.^[6][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro describes their shape and the armed dance with them.^[6][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of the shields fallen from heaven.^[6][2]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid tells their story and explains the name.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small shield narrowed at the waist, especially one of the twelve sacred shields of the Salii, one of which was said to have fallen from heaven in Numa's reign.^[3][2]
2. (poetic) Any small shield of the old kind.^[4][2]

Related words

• caedō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de