gentilis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɡɛnˈtiː.lɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [d͡ʒenˈtiː.lis]^[1]

Forms

gentīlis (neuter gentīle, adverb gentīliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin gēns (“clan”) + -īlis.^[2][1][3] Gēns is *genti-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁-ti- (“child”), and first meant a clan, people of one descent.^[4] The Christian sense “heathen” is a semantic loan from Biblical Hebrew גּוֹי (gôy, “nation”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Laws of the Twelve Tables rule that if there is no agnate, the gentiles shall have the estate.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it was a member of the same gens, sharing the same name, and as an adjective belonging to a gens, as Ovid's band of Fabii and Tacitus' eloquence, “the gift of our family”.^[2][5] It then meant belonging to one's tribe or nation, national, and as a noun a fellow countryman, as in Gellius.^[2][6]

In Christian Latin gentiles were the heathen, translating the Biblical “nations”.^[1][7] In medieval Latin it meant noble and refined.^[7] Through Old French it gave English gentle, gentry and genteel, and gentile “one who is not a Jew” came from the Late Latin noun around 1400.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use gentiles of the clan.^[2][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the Fabii.^[2][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a fellow countryman.^[2][6]
• early 13th century – English gentle is recorded.^[8]
• c. 1400 – English gentile is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a gens, of one's clan.^[2][1]
2. National, of one's own people.^[2][1]
3. Of foreign peoples.^[2][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) Noble; refined.^[7]

Noun

1. A member of the same gens, a kinsman.^[2][1]
2. A fellow countryman.^[2]
3. (Christian Latin) A heathen, pagan, gentile.^[1][7]

Word family

• gentīlicius
• gentīlitās
• gentīlitus
• gentīliter
• gentīlitius

Related words

• gēns
• genticus
• English gentle
• English gentile
• English genteel

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com