ancillaris

Forms

ancillāris (neuter ancillāre); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ancilla (“maidservant”) + -āris.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains ancilla as a diminutive formed to anculus (“man-servant”), once that word had been reanalysed as a diminutive itself.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it in the Tusculan Disputations: royal daughters trimmed their father's beard and hair “with a mean and maidservant's craft” (sordido ancillarique artificio).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it described what belongs or is fitting to a maidservant, such as her work or her clothing, and, in the Ciris, the condition of being a slave woman.^[2][6][7] Ammianus Marcellinus uses it figuratively of servile flattery.^[6][7]

Medieval Latin kept both the literal sense and figurative uses, including the phrase “in the manner of a maid”.^[8] English took it over in the 17th century as ancillary.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a maidservant's craft.^[5][10]
• 1st half of the 1st century AD – The Ciris uses it of a woman who is a slave.^[7][10]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian, in the Digest, speaks of a maidservant's clothing.^[6][10]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus writes of servile flattery.^[6][10]
• 1660s – English borrows it as ancillary.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having the status of a female slave.^[2][7]
2. Of, belonging to or befitting a maidservant.^[2][6][11]
3. (figurative) Servile, base.^[6][7]

Related words

• ancilla
• English ancillary

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn