chylus

Forms

chȳlus m (genitive chȳlī); second declension^[1] Georges and the TLL head it in the Greek form chȳlos (accusative chȳlon), which they cite from Pelagonius and Vegetius;^[2][3][1] Wiktionary lists chȳlos as a variant.^[2][3][1] Medieval spellings include kylus, quilos and cilus.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek χυλός (khūlós, “juice”).^[1][6][5] Etymonline derives the Greek noun from the stem of the verb for “to pour”,^[7] and Köbler compares Proto-Indo-European *g̑ʰeu- (“to pour”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pelagonius, in his work on veterinary medicine, uses it for a juice or decoction: ut chylon faciant, “so that they make a juice”.^[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Vegetius, in his book on the medicine of animals, uses it of the juice drawn out of plants by steeping and boiling.^[6][2][3] Soranus names a plaster dia chylōn.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it meant juice in general,^[4] and the medical writers used it for chyle, the fluid formed in the stomach from digested food, which passes to the liver and is turned into blood:^[4][8][9] Albertus Magnus writes that blood is generated from it.^[4] English took chyle from it in the 1540s.^[7]

Timeline

• 360 AD – Pelagonius uses it for a juice or decoction.^[3][5]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it of juice drawn from plants.^[6][5]
• 1540s – English chyle is borrowed from it.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The juice drawn out of a plant, especially by boiling; a decoction.^[6][2][3][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Juice in general.^[4]
3. (Medieval Latin, medicine) Chyle, the fluid formed in the stomach from digested food.^[4][8][9]

Related words

• English chyle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences