Etymologically
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asylum

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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]

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