Etymologically
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aquilo

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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

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