domicilium

Forms

domicilium n (genitive domiciliī or domicilī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from domus (“house”), but how is not clear.^[2][3] The OLD compares the second part with colō (“to inhabit”), and Wiktionary and Etymonline give that view;^[3][1][4] Lewis and Short connect it instead with the root of cēlō (“to hide”) and cella (“storeroom”).^[5][1] De Vaan derives ⟨domus⟩ from Proto-Italic *domo- (“house”) and Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“house”), cognate with Sanskrit दम् (dám-, “house”) and Ancient Greek δόμος (dómos, “house”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.^[7]

Semantic evolution

It is a dwelling place, habitation or domicile, and domicilium habēre is to be domiciled.^[3][5][1] Figuratively it is a seat or home of something, as Cicero's colonists of Capua settled in “the home of arrogance”.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “house, home, dwelling, abode”, and in canon law it is the legal status gained in a parish and a diocese by residence or the intention of living there.^[8] It gave English domicile in the mid-15th century, through Old French and directly.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the home of arrogance.^[3][7]
• mid-15th century – English domicile.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dwelling, habitation, abode, domicile;^[3][5][1][8] domicilium habēre, to be domiciled.^[3]
2. (figurative) A seat, home (of something).^[3]
3. (canon law) Legal residence in a parish or diocese.^[8]

Related words

• domus
• colō
• habitātiō
• sēdēs
• English domicile

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson