Etymologically
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ilex

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈiː.ɫɛks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈiː.leks][1]

Forms

īlex f (genitive īlicis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It has no etymology.[2][3] Köbler and Wiktionary take it from a lost non-Indo-European language of the Mediterranean.[4][1][5] Wiktionary notes that Romance forms such as elce start with a vowel that is not the regular outcome of Latin long ⟨ī⟩; one hypothesis traces them to an Osco-Umbrian form in ⟨*ēl-⟩, while Hall preferred a contamination from a descendant of aesculus (“Italian oak”).[1] Isidore connected it with ēlectus (“chosen”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius,[2][4] as quoted by Macrobius.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is the holm oak, Quercus ilex, and was also applied to the kermes oak.[3][6] It also means the wood of the tree, as Virgil's pyre of pine and cut ilex, and its acorns, as Martial's pig fattened on ilex.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “holm oak”.[7]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of ilex wood on a pyre.[3][4]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial of a pig fed on acorns.[3][4]
  • late 14th century – Borrowed into English as ilex.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The holm oak; also the kermes oak.[3][6][1][7]
  2. Its wood; its acorns.[3]

Word family

  • īlicētum
  • īliceus
  • īlicīnus
  • īligneus
  • īlignus
  • English ilex

Usage notes

The adjectives īlignus and īligneus mean “of the holm oak”.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson