iligneus

Forms

īligneus (feminine īlignea, neuter īligneum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

The OLD explains it as a variant of īlignus (“of the holm-oak”) with the suffix -eus;^[1] the TLL derives it from īlex (“holm-oak”).^[3] De Vaan finds no etymology for the noun, and takes ⟨īlignus⟩ to come from a pre-syncope form *īlik-ino-s.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL record it first in Cato's treatise on agriculture,^[5][3] which uses it of things made of holm-oak wood (such as the dowels called subscudes) and of holm-oak leaves to be gathered as litter when straw runs short.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The TLL separates two uses: things made of the wood or leaves of the holm-oak (dowels, levers and tool handles in Cato and Columella, holm-oak sawdust for storing pomegranates in Columella), and things belonging to the tree itself (its foliage and acorns).^[3] Georges, Gaffiot and Conte treat it together with īlignus and the rarer īliceus, all meaning “of holm-oak”.^[6][7][8] A line of Caecilius Statius may have it, but editors read iligna there.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of holm-oak dowels and holm-oak leaves.^[3][2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of tool handles, sawdust, foliage and acorns.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has it in the Natural History.^[3][5]
• 6th century AD – Priscian mentions the form in his grammar.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of the wood or leaves of the holm-oak (īlex).^[1][3][2]
2. Of or belonging to the holm-oak (of its foliage or acorns).^[3][6]

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier