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illuc

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɪlˈluːk][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ilˈluk][1]

Forms

illūc (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is perhaps from ⟨*illoic⟩, an old locative of direction of illic (“that one”), compare Ancient Greek ποῖ (poî, “whither”).[2] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Italic *e/olloike, from ille (“that”) and the particle -ce, parallel to illōc (“thither”), an old instrumental, as hūc beside hōc.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] but Ennius already has īmus hūc, hinc illūc, “we go here, from here there”.[2] Plautus has age tū illūc prōcēde, “come on, you, go over there”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Illūc is “to that place, thither” (Cicero), and hūc … illūc is “this way and that, to and fro” (Virgil: he divides his mind now this way, now that).[2][4][1] Figuratively it is “to that point, to that matter”, and so “there” in a passage of a book.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “thither, to that place, person or matter”;[5] medieval Latin also uses it for “there” (place where).[6]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: īmus hūc, hinc illūc.[2][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: age tū illūc prōcēde.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: nunc hūc … nunc dīvidit illūc.[2][7]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. To that place, thither, there.[2][4][1][5]
  2. (hūc … illūc) This way and that, to and fro.[2][4]
  3. To that point or matter.[2][5]
  4. (Medieval Latin) There.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de