illumino

Forms

illūminō (present infinitive illūmināre, perfect active illūmināvī, supine illūminātum); first conjugation^[1] Also spelled inlūminō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in-¹ + lūminō (“to light up”).^[2][3] The verb lūminō comes from lūmen (“light”),^[1] which goes back to Proto-Italic *louksmən and Proto-Indo-European *léwksmn̥.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which describes a golden crown lit up with large gleaming gems.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of the moon lit by the sun and, figuratively, of brightening a speech with ornaments of style and of making a thought stand out.^[2] The TLL notes that it is rare before the Church writers and appears in poetry from Statius on.^[3]

Christian writers used it for giving sight to the blind^[4] and for spiritual enlightenment.^[5][6] Medieval writers also used it for kindling a fire, for decorating with colours and rubricating, and for converting someone to the Christian faith,^[6] and a Neo-Latin catalogue says of a friar that he illuminated books and decorated them with pictures.^[7] From Late Latin it passed through Old French into English, as enlumyen “decorate a manuscript” and illumine “enlighten”, both in the late 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium has a crown lit up with gems.^[3][2][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the moon and of brightening a speech.^[2][9]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it in poetry.^[3][9]
• beginning of the 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian uses it for giving sight to the blind.^[4][9]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as illumine and enlumyen.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give light to, illuminate.^[2][10]
2. To light up, make bright (with jewels, colours and the like).^[2][10]
3. To embellish (a speech or text with ornaments of style).^[2]
4. (figurative) To make conspicuous; to throw light on, reveal.^[2]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To give sight to (the blind).^[4][6]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To enlighten spiritually.^[5][6]
7. (Medieval Latin) To decorate with colours, rubricate.^[6][7]
8. (Medieval Latin) To convert to the Christian faith.^[6]

Word family

• illūminātiō
• illūminātor
• illuminatrix
• illūminus

Related words

• English illuminate
• English illumine

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press