ilico

Forms

īlicō (not comparable)^[1] It is also spelled illicō, a spelling Lewis & Short call less correct.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a fusion of the phrase ⟨*in stlocō⟩ “in the place”, from Latin in (“in”) + locus (“place”).^[4][3][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of locus, whose older form was ⟨stlocus⟩; the further origin of that noun is unclear.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius,^[5] who has “for sixteen years they sit on the spot”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is local, “on the spot, just there”, as in Caecilius' “stay where you are”, mostly in early Latin.^[4][2] From that it came to mean at that moment, at once, there and then, as in Plautus' “you greeted me the moment you arrived”, and in argument “immediately, from that”, as in Cicero.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of sitting on the spot.^[4][5][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of “at once”.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a logical consequence.^[4][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. On the spot, there, just here.^[4][2][1]
2. At once, immediately, there and then.^[4][2][1]

Related words

• locus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de