aquilo

Forms

aquilō m (genitive aquilōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

De Vaan, following Cohen, derives it most straightforwardly from Latin aquila (“eagle”) + -ō, the cold north wind being personified as a fast, aggressive bird of prey.^[2][1] The OLD derives it instead from aquilus (“dark”), and Lewis & Short offer that adjective, for the stormy weather it brings, or aqua (“water”), for the wet.^[3][4] De Vaan thinks the eagle itself may have been named from ⟨aquilus⟩.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Naevius.^[2][5] In the OLD's earliest quotation Ennius has the south wind and the north wind vying to raise the waves.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the north wind, and more precisely in Vitruvius the north-north-east wind, between the north and the east.^[3] Personified it is Boreas: Cicero mentions the story that the north wind carried off Orithyia at Athens.^[3] As a point of the compass it is the north: Varro says that Europe lies to the north.^[3] Church Latin glosses it north wind.^[6] In New Latin it is also the kite.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of the north wind raising waves.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of Boreas and Orithyia.^[3][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of the north-north-east wind.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The north wind; more precisely, the north-north-east wind.^[3][4][1][6]
2. The north wind personified, Boreas.^[3][4][1]
3. The north.^[3][1]
4. (New Latin) A kite.^[1]

Word family

• aquilonalis
• aquilonigena
• aquilōnius
• euroaquilō
• aquilōnāris

Related words

• aquila
• aquilus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson