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bilis

Etymology and origin of the Latin word bilis

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Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
Plautus

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈbiː.lɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbiː.lis][1]

Forms

bīlis f (genitive bīlis); third declension[1]

Etymology

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *bistli-, following Schrijver's demonstration that the British Celtic words Welsh bustl (“gall”) and Breton bestl (“gall”) go back to *bistlis.[2][3] No further cognates are known, and since Latin and Brythonic *b- do not regularly match in inherited words, Wiktionary considers it a likely borrowing from an unknown source.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[2][4] Cato prescribes cabbage to make the body throw off bile and phlegm.[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It was bile, the fluid secreted by the liver, and in old medicine the humour, ātra bīlis “black bile” was melancholy.[3][5] Figuratively it meant anger, ill temper, and also madness or folly, as in Horace.[3] Pliny uses bīlis suffūsa of jaundice.[6]

Döderlein contrasts bīlis, human gall and the symbol of anger, with fel, the gall of animals and the symbol of bitterness.[7] English bile came from French in the 1660s, and English bilious from bīliōsus.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][8][4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of bile and phlegm.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the anger of an enemy.[3][4]
  • 1660s – English bile is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. bile, gall, ātra bīlis, black bile, melancholy.[3][5]
  2. Anger, ill temper.[3]
  3. Madness, folly.[3]

Word family

  • bīliōsus
  • bīlifer
  • English bile
  • English bilious

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Bilis.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/bilis. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·