Etymologically
Log in

glacialis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 07:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɡɫa.kiˈaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ɡla.t͡ʃiˈaː.lis][1]

Forms

glaciālis (neuter glaciāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin glaciēs (“ice”) + -ālis.[2][1][3] De Vaan notes that glaciēs means the same as gelū (“frost”) but cannot be derived in any meaningful way from a root meaning “to be cold”;[4] Etymonline thinks it probably comes from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold; to freeze”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Virgil,[6] who has an icy winter, glacialis hiems, in the Aeneid.[7]

Semantic evolution

It is icy, frozen, or proper to ice, a poetic word also found in prose after Augustus.[2][7] Ovid has icy winter and cold, the icy pole and icy Scythia, Columella an icy region set against a very hot one, and Juvenal the icy Ocean.[7] English glacial came from it, directly or through French, in the 1650s; its sense “of glaciers” was coined in 1846.[5]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of an icy winter.[7][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of the icy pole and Scythia.[7][6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella, of an icy region.[7][6]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal, of the icy Ocean.[7][6]
  • 1650s – English glacial.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Icy, frozen, full of ice; of or proper to ice.[2][7][1]

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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press