asylum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [aˈsyː.ɫũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [aˈs̬iː.lum]^[1]

Forms

asȳlum n (genitive asȳlī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon, “sanctuary”),^[2][3][4] the neuter of ἄσυλος (ásulos, “inviolable”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) and σύλη (súlē, “right of seizure”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero (81–43 BC).^[5] Cicero writes of a slave who fled to that asylum.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was a place where criminals and others could take sanctuary, a refuge.^[2] Livy tells how Romulus opened an asylum, Virgil names Juno's asylum, and Tacitus Aesculapius' and the old right of asylum.^[6][7]

In medieval Latin it also meant a monastery or a church.^[5] English asylum was borrowed in the early 15th century, after an earlier asile.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a slave's refuge.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy tells how Romulus opened an asylum.^[6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil names Juno's asylum.^[6][5]
• early 15th century – English asylum is borrowed.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sanctuary, a place of refuge for fugitives.^[2][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A monastery, a church.^[5]

Related words

• English asylum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com