annalis

Forms

annālis (neuter annāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] The noun is annālis m (genitive annālis), mostly in the plural annālēs.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin annus (“year”) + -ālis.^[2][1][3] The noun is the adjective used alone, short for ⟨annālis liber⟩ “yearly book”.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucilius speaks of the annālēs of Ennius.^[2][5][6] Köbler dates the word from Ennius, whose epic bore that title, and Varro, quoted by Gellius, says Ennius wrote his twelfth book of annals at the age of 67.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it meant lasting a year or happening once a year, and also recording events year by year: Sempronius Asellio says that books of annals (annālēs librī) only set down what happened in each year.^[2][5] The lēx annālis fixed the ages at which the offices of state could be held;^[2][7] by Livy's account it was first carried by the tribune Lucius Villius in 180 BC.^[8] As a noun it was a book of annals, and in the plural a chronicle, such as the annals of the pontiffs;^[2][5] Virgil used it of a full account of a story of troubles.^[2][5]

In Medieval Latin it was used of the year and the calendar,^[9] and in England the annual roll of the Exchequer, the Pipe Roll, was the rotulus annālis.^[10] English annals comes from it (1560s).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius speaks of the annals of Ennius.^[2][6]
• c. 100 BC – Sempronius Asellio describes books of annals.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the lēx annālis.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a narrative.^[2][6]
• 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan refers to the annual rolls of the Exchequer.^[10]
• 1560s – English annals.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lasting a year; Annual, yearly.^[2][7]
2. Recording events year by year;^[2] annālēs librī, chronicles.^[2]
3. lēx annālis, the law fixing the ages for holding public office.^[2][7]
4. Lasting one year only.^[2]

Noun

1. A book of annals; in the plural, a chronicle, records.^[2][11]
2. A narrative, a full account.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) The Pipe Roll.^[10]

Related words

• annuus
• English annals

Usage notes

Annālis was also a cognomen of the Villii, which, according to Livy, the family took from the lēx annālis of Lucius Villius.^[8][2] Döderlein distinguishes annālēs, a history of past ages built on records, from historiae, a history of the writer's own times.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
12. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper