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auxiliaris

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word auxiliaris

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 50 BC, Caesar
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂eug-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin auxilium
Latin auxiliaris

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [au̯k.sɪ.liˈaː.rɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [au̯k.si.liˈaː.ris][1]

Forms

auxiliāris (neuter auxiliāre); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] An inscription has auxsiliāris.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin auxilium (“help”) + -āris.[3][4] De Vaan files auxilium under augeō (“to increase”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *augeje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eug- (“to grow”), comparing Ancient Greek αὔξω (aúxō, “to increase”) and Lithuanian áugti (“to grow”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the noun from Caesar.[6] In the OLD's quotation from his Civil War two auxiliary cohorts are left to guard Ilerda.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is helping, assisting: in Ovid Lucina says she is a helping goddess, and Ovid also has helping waters;[3][2] Lucan has a helping divinity.[3][2] Of troops it is auxiliary, and in Tacitus it is of the auxiliaries' helmets and shields.[3] The plural ⟨auxiliārēs⟩ is a noun, the auxiliary troops.[3] Charisius reports from Pliny an ablative ⟨auxiliāre⟩.[4] It is also a Roman surname.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of auxiliary cohorts.[3][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a helping goddess.[3][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of auxiliaries' arms.[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Helping, assisting; remedial.[3][2][1]
  2. Of troops, auxiliary; of auxiliary troops.[3][2][1]

Noun

  1. auxiliārēs (plural): auxiliary troops.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Auxiliaris.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/auxiliaris. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·