illusio

Forms

illūsiō f (genitive illūsiōnis); third declension^[1] Also spelled ⟨inlūsiō⟩.^[2][3] Medieval spellings include ⟨illussio⟩.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is from Latin illūdō (“to make sport of, mock”) + -tiō.^[2][1][6] The verb is formed from in- and lūdō (“to play”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is its first author: in the De Oratore he lists among the figures of thought understatement and, joined to it, illūsiō, mockery.^[2][6][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Quintilian makes it the Latin name of irony: in the kind of allegory that shows the contrary of what is said, εἰρωνεία est: illūsiōnem vocant, “it is irony; they call it illusio”.^[2][6][3] After him the TLL finds it in the Itala, the old Latin Bible, for mockery,^[6] and the Vulgate has subsannātiō et illūsiō, “a scorn and a derision”, to one's neighbours.^[6][8]

Church writers also used it for deception and false appearances, and for temptation:^[6][3][9] Ambrosiaster speaks of the illusion of the devil, and Cassian of illusions in sleep.^[6] Augustine has impleta est anima mea illūsiōnibus, “my soul is filled with illusions”.^[8] Medieval Latin kept the senses of mockery and of deception or delusion:^[10][5] Hildegard of Bingen writes that jasper drives away the fantasies and illusions of demons, and in medicine it was a phantom of sight and, by euphemism, a nocturnal emission.^[5] English illusion, through Old French, meant “mockery” in the mid-14th century and “deception” in the late 14th;^[7] Etymonline says the sense of deceptive appearance developed in Church Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero names it among the figures of thought.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for irony.^[2][4]
• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it for mockery.^[6][4]
• last third of the 4th century AD – Ambrosiaster speaks of the illusion of the devil.^[6][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for derision.^[6][4]
• c. 360–c. 435 AD – Cassian uses it of illusions in sleep.^[6][4]
• mid-14th century – English illusion “mockery” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Mockery, ridicule, jeering.^[2][3][10]
2. (rhetoric) Irony, the saying of the opposite of what is meant.^[2][9]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Deception, delusion, a false image; a temptation.^{[3][6][9][11]}
4. (Medieval Latin) A phantom, hallucination.^[5][10]
5. (Medieval Latin, medicine) A nocturnal emission.^[5]

Related words

• English illusion

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson