illustris

Forms

illūstris (neuter illūstre, comparative illūstrior, superlative illūstrissimus); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] It is also spelled inlūstris, the usual spelling in manuscripts and inscriptions.^[2][3] Valerius Maximus has a masculine nominative illūster.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is probably a back-formation from illūstrō (“to light up”), as the OLD, the TLL and Wiktionary suggest;^[2][3][1][4] Lewis & Short explain it as “lighted up”.^[2][3][1][4] The verb is formed from in- (“in, on”) and the stem of lūstrō (“to illuminate”), from the root of lūx, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“light”), cognate with Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “bright, white”) and Sanskrit रोचते (rócate, “shines”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Rudens: a storm “knocked all the tiles off the roof, made the house brighter (inlūstriōrēs) and put windows in”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Literally it is bright and shining, of stars (Cicero's Aratus) and of places full of light; then, figuratively, brilliant, of words and deeds.^[2] Of speech and writing it means clear and lucid (Varro).^[2] Its commonest Classical sense is illustrious, distinguished, famous, of persons (Varro: the most illustrious of the ancients were shepherds) and things (Cicero: so illustrious a province).^[2][1] Wiktionary also gives “highborn, noble” as a term of rank.^[1]

Döderlein contrasts lūculentus, what can be seen and need not shun the light, with illūstris, what makes itself seen and catches the eye; he groups it with clārus and nōbilis as words for fame.^[7] Church Latin glosses it “glorious, full of light, illustrious, clear”.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a house made brighter.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of clear words and illustrious men.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of shining stars and an illustrious province.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bright, shining, lustrous; full of light.^[2][1][8]
2. (of speech) Clear, lucid.^[2][1]
3. illustrious, distinguished, famous.^[2][1][8]
4. Highborn, noble (as a rank).^[1]

Word family

• perillūstris

Related words

• illūstrō
• lūstrō
• lūx

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson