ille

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɪl.lɛ]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈil.le]^[1]

Forms

ille (feminine illa, neuter illud); demonstrative determiner (pronominal declension)^[1]

Etymology

It replaced the Old Latin pronoun olle (also ollus), and the OLD takes it as an altered form of that word.^[2][3] The change of /o/ to /i/ is usually put down to the influence of iste, though Sihler explained it from an unstressed form ⟨*elle⟩.^[2] If the variant in ⟨-us⟩ comes from ⟨*ol-no-⟩, the form in ⟨-e⟩ may continue a nominative ⟨*ol-so⟩, as the nominative of the other pronoun continues ⟨*es-to⟩.^[2] Wiktionary traces the old pronoun to Proto-Italic *olnos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond, other”), the root of uls and alius.^[1] The TLL compares Oscan ulleis and reports that others derived it from ⟨*is-le⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Ille is the demonstrative of what is remote from the speaker (“that”), beside hic “this (near me)” and iste.^[3] It marks something known or famous (ille rēx Philippus “the famous King Philip”) or contemptuously notorious, and with hic it means “the former”.^[3]

In Late Latin it became the third-person pronoun and the definite article, the source of the Romance articles and pronouns.^[1][5] In medieval formulas it stands for a name to be filled in, “so-and-so”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – Used in the Twelve Tables.^[2]
• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses the adverb illinc “from there”.^[2][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has a character say ego sum ille rēx Philippus “I am that famous King Philip”.^[3][6]
• c. 550–1150 – Medieval Latin uses ille as an article and as “so-and-so” in formulas.^[5]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. that (pointed out by the speaker, or just mentioned); (plural) those.^[3][7]
2. That well-known, that famous; that notorious.^[3]
3. (in contrast with hic) The other, the former.^[3]
4. Of that period; of that kind, such.^[3]
5. He, she, it (as a pronoun).^[3][1]
6. (Late Latin) The (as a definite article).^[1][5]
7. (Medieval Latin, in formulas) So-and-so.^[5]

Word family

• illīc
• illinc
• illūc
• illō
• illāc
• illim

Related words

• olle
• hic
• iste
• alius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press