fossilis

Forms

fossilis (neuter fossile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fodiō (“to dig”) + -ilis, formed on ⟨foss-⟩, the stem of the participle fossus.^[2][3][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *foþ-i- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰodʰ-i- (“to poke, dig”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro (116–27 BC)^[5] has it in De re rustica, where he says that salt dug from the ground is better than sea salt: melior sal fossilis quam marinus.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Georges also finds it in Caesar, of clay, though other manuscripts there read fusilis.^[7] Pliny the Elder speaks of sand taken from pits and of ivory dug out of the ground,^[6][8] and Ammianus Marcellinus calls a canal a flumen fossile, a dug river.^[6][8]

In Medieval Latin it kept the sense of something got by digging or mining: sand and stone in building,^[9] and in British sources coal from pits.^[10] English took fossil from French fossile in the 17th century, at first of anything dug up; the restriction to the remains of plants and animals came in the 18th century.^[11]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro writes of salt dug from the ground.^[3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar, in one reading, has clay called fossilis.^[7][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of sand and of ivory dug from the earth.^[6][5]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus calls a canal a flumen fossile.^[6][5]
• 1610s – English borrows fossil through French.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Got by digging, dug up, mined, of salt, sand or ivory.^[2][6][7]
2. Of a watercourse: dug, artificial.^[6][8]

Related words

• fossa
• English fossil

Usage notes

The OLD gives it the same meaning as fossīcius, another adjective from fodiō that is also first found in Varro.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com