infantilis

Forms

īnfantīlis (neuter īnfantīle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin īnfāns (“young child”) + -īlis², probably on the model of puerīlis (“boyish, childish”).^[1][2] De Vaan files īnfāns under for (“to speak”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apuleius uses it in the Metamorphoses of a womb that is still small, not yet grown.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It belongs to post-Classical Latin.^[4] The jurist Ulpian speaks of children's clothing (vestis infantilis), Justin of childlike caresses, and Diocletian's price edict of lasts for children's shoes.^[5][4] Augustine uses it of the age and soul of a child, and calls the killing of the children of Bethlehem an infantile bellum, a war waged on infants.^[5] Jerome has the adverb infantiliter, like a child.^[4]

Ecclesiastical and medieval Latin kept the sense “of children”, and Niermeyer adds “childish”.^[7][8] French enfantil and Italian infantile continue it,^[2][6] and English borrowed infantile in the mid-15th century, in the sense “pertaining to infants”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a womb still small.^[5][6][10]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian writes of children's clothing, vestis infantilis.^[5][4][10]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of a child's age and soul.^[5][10]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as infantile.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or suitable for a young child or infant.^[1][4][5]
2. Still small, not yet grown.^[5][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) Childish.^[8]

Related words

• īnfantia
• puerīlis
• English infantile

References

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