filialis

Forms

fīliālis (neuter fīliāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin fīlius (“son”) + -ālis.^[1][2][3] De Vaan traces fīlius to Proto-Indo-European *dʰ(e)h₁i-l- (“suckling, child”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest examples are in a sermon falsely attributed to Augustine, of filial love towards God, and in Pseudo-Rufinus, of filial fear.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Christian writers it described the love or fear proper to a son or daughter;^[2][6] Honorius Augustodunensis contrasts servile fear with filial fear.^[2][6] In medieval canon law it was used of the relation between a mother church and a daughter church.^[7][6][8] It also served as a noun for a daughter, from Hugo of Flavigny on,^[8] and a Hungarian charter of 1405 has filialibus suis, “her daughters”.^[9]

Neo-Latin authors from Petrarch on spoke of filial devotion and filial piety.^[10] English took filial from it in the late 14th century.^[11]

Timeline

• 1090–1112 – Hugo of Flavigny uses it as a noun, “daughter”.^[8]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as filial.^[11]
• 1405 – A Hungarian charter uses it for daughters.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or befitting a son or daughter, filial.^[5][2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin, canon law) Of a daughter church, dependent on a mother church.^[7][6]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A daughter.^[8][9]

Related words

• filia
• English filial

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
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. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com