Etymologically
Log in

fossilis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 14:01. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɔs.sɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɔs.si.lis][1]

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]

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