filiola

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [fiːˈli.ɔ.ɫa]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [fiˈliː.o.la]^[1]

Forms

fīliola f (genitive fīliolae, masculine fīliolus); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fīlia (“daughter”) + -ola, a diminutive.^[2][3][1] De Vaan derives ⟨fīlius⟩ from Proto-Italic *fīlio- (“son”), from an adjective Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁i-l- (“suckling, child”), cognate with Faliscan ⟨fileo⟩ “son” and Venetic ⟨filia⟩ “daughter”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short cite Plautus' Cistellaria, ēducāre aliquam prō fīliolā suā “to bring up a girl as one's own little daughter”.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a little daughter, often affectionately, as in Plautus and Cicero.^[2][3]

Medieval Latin used it for a goddaughter.^[6][7] It survives as Italian figliola, Catalan fillola and Spanish hijuela, and French filleule “goddaughter” is from it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little daughter.^[2][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) A goddaughter.^[6][7]

Related words

• fīlia
• fīliolus
• fīlius

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press