Etymologically
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ellipsis

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɛlˈliːp.sɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [elˈlip.sis][1]

Forms

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

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔλλειψις (élleipsis, “omission, falling short”).[2][1][3] The Greek is from ἐλλείπω (elleípō, “to fall short, leave out”).[4] Its native Latin equivalent was dētractiō.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Quintilian uses it of the omission of a word.[2][5] Köbler dates Quintilian about 35–95/96 AD.[7]

Semantic evolution

It was a grammatical and rhetorical term for leaving out a word needed to complete the sense.[2] Priscian uses per ellipsin, “by ellipsis”, and the scholia on Juvenal have the spellings ellimsis and enlipsis.[6][8]

In medieval Latin it meant elision and omission, and by confusion with eclipsis also an eclipse or disappearance.[9] Wiktionary also gives the sense “ellipse”.[1] English ellipsis is recorded in the 1560s for the geometrical figure, and later in grammar.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it.[2][7]
  • 6th century AD – Priscian uses per ellipsin.[6][7]
  • 1560s – English ellipsis is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (grammar) ellipsis, the omission of a word.[2][1]
  2. (geometry) An ellipse.[1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An eclipse, disappearance.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften