erilis

Forms

erīlis (neuter erīle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] It is also spelled herīlis.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin erus (“master”) + -īlis.^[2][1] De Vaan traces erus to Proto-Italic *eso- (“master”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁esh₂-ó- (“master”), comparing Hittite išhā- (“master, lord”) and the Gaulish god Esus.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^[5][6] Plautus has “our master's concubine”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means of the master or mistress of a household, said by or of slaves: Terence has a slave say that he has deceived his master and pushed the master's son into marriage.^[3] Lewis & Short call it poetic and especially Plautine.^[3] As a noun it is the master's son, in the argument of a Plautine play, and a mistress, in Apuleius' vocative.^[2] The spelling ⟨herīlis⟩ is less correct.^[3][2] Köbler finds it again in medieval writers.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the master's concubine.^[2][5][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of the master's son.^[3][6]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius as a noun for a mistress.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to the master or mistress of a household.^[2][3][1]

Noun

1. The master's son; a mistress.^[2]

Related words

• erus
• era

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de