Etymologically
Log in

diluvium

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [diːˈɫʊ.wi.ũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [diˈluː.vi.um][1]

Forms

dīluvium n (genitive dīluviī or dīluvī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dīluō (“to wash away”) + -ium.[2][1][3] Dīluō is from dis- and the stem of lavō “to wash”, which de Vaan says is contained in the compounds in -luere, lavō is from Proto-Indo-European *louh₃- (“to wash”).[1][4] A related form is dīluviēs.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Virgil (70–19 BC).[6] Virgil uses it of a flood and figuratively of a catastrophe.[7]

Semantic evolution

It meant a flood or inundation.[2] Varro dates events from the time of the flood of Deucalion, and Pliny the Younger writes of frequent floods.[8] Figuratively it meant destruction or devastation, as in Virgil.[7]

In Christian Latin it was the universal flood, Noah's flood.[7][9] Isidore says it is named because it destroys (deleat) all that it floods.[10] English deluge came from it through Old French in the late 14th century, and geologists borrowed diluvium in 1819.[11]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of the time of Deucalion's flood.[8][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a flood and of devastation.[7][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in his Natural Questions.[7][6]
  • late 14th century – English deluge is recorded.[11]
  • 1819 – English diluvium is borrowed in geology.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flood, inundation.[2][1]
  2. (figurative) Destruction, cataclysm.[7]
  3. (Christian Latin) The Flood, the deluge.[7][9]
  • diluo
  • English deluge
  • English diluvium

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com