Etymologically
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ille

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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

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