Etymologically
Log in

hilum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 05:59. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈhiː.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈiː.lum][1]

Forms

hīlum n (genitive hīlī); second declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary mentions a possible Semitic source, or a variant of fīlum (“thread”) if the first sense was "little thread".[1] Festus, as reported by Paul the Deacon, says that the word was thought to mean what sticks to a bean, and Varro perhaps connected it with hīllae.[4] Etymonline reports that it is said to have meant first "the eye of a bean".[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Plautus.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a minimal quantity, the least bit, usually after a negative, "not a whit".[3][4] Ennius, quoted by Varro, has "what she gave she takes back herself, and loses not a bit", and a poet quoted by Cicero has Sisyphus rolling his rock and gaining not a whit.[4] Lucilius and Lucretius use it adverbially, "not at all";[3][4] Lucretius also has it without a negative.[3][4] Lewis & Short call it ante-classical.[4] De Vaan explains nihil as coming from nihilum, from ⟨*ne hīlom⟩, "not a bit".[2] In New Latin botany it is the scar on a seed where it was attached, and English took hilum from it in 1753.[1][6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[2][5]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of the earth losing not a bit.[4]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, "you gain not a whit".[3]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius, adverbially.[3][4]
  • 1753 – hilum appears in English botany.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A trifle, the least bit;[3][4][1] (with a negative) not a whit, not at all.[3][4][1]
  2. (New Latin, botany) The hilum of a seed.[1][6]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com