cilium

Forms

cilium n (genitive ciliī or cilī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2] Because it is recorded much later than the word for the eyebrow, it may be a back-formation from Latin supercilium (“eyebrow”), as the OLD suggests and as Walde–Hofmann and Ernout–Meillet held, according to de Vaan.^[3][2] If it belongs to the root of cēlō (“to hide”) and occulō (“to cover over”), however, a noun for the eyelid, which hides the eye (the eyebrow does not), must have existed before the compound; the compound would then first have meant what lies above that noun.^[2] De Vaan reconstructs it as Proto-Italic *kel-jo- (“eyelid”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-io- (“hiding”).^[2] Lewis & Short compare Ancient Greek κυλίς (kulís) and κύλα (kúla).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it from Pliny the Elder on,^[2] who uses it of the eyelid,^[4][5] and once of the lower eyelid, as opposed to the brow above it.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the eyelid itself, the word was used for its edge,^[3] for the eyelashes^[6] and, in Maximianus, for the eyebrow.^[6] Apuleius has it in the plural.^[5][7]

In Medieval Latin it meant the eyelid, the eyelashes and the eyebrow;^[8][9] by transfer it was also the brow of a hill,^[9][8] and it could stand for pride and for the eye itself.^[8] It lives on in Italian ciglio.^[7] English took the plural cilia for the eyelashes in 1715, and later for the hair-like processes of cells.^[10]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for the eyelid and the lower eyelid.^[4][5][11]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it in the plural.^[5][7][11]
• 1715 – English borrows the plural cilia for the eyelashes.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The upper eyelid; also its edge.^[3]
2. The lower eyelid, as opposed to the brow.^[4]
3. (plural) The eyelashes.^[6][1]
4. The eyebrow.^[6][9]
5. (Medieval Latin) The brow of a hill.^[9][8]
6. (Medieval Latin) Pride, haughtiness.^[8]

Word family

• ciliāris
• intercilium

Related words

• cēlō
• clam
• supercilium
• English cilia

Usage notes

Isidore of Seville also has a cilium that the TLL and Gaffiot treat as another word, the same as cilio: a silversmiths' tool, from which, Isidore says, chased vessels get their name caelata.^[12][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
12. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften