Etymologically
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iuvenilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [jʊ.wɛˈniː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ju.veˈniː.lis][1]

Forms

iuvenīlis (neuter iuvenīle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] It is also written iuenīlis in a manuscript of Tacitus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin iuvenis (“young; young man”) + -īlis.[3][2][1] Wiktionary traces iuvenis to Proto-Italic *juwō and Proto-Indo-European *h₂yéwHō.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero on,[2][4] who speaks in the Brutus of a certain youthful freedom and licence in speaking.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL thinks it rather a prose word.[2] It means belonging to a young man or woman, as in Seneca's Thyestes,[3] and typical of youth, youthful: Cicero has a youthful exuberance of style, and Virgil a youthful body.[3][5] It also means having the vigour of youth: Ovid's Silenus is always more youthful than his years.[3] Statius uses it of something violent, of an illness that struck suddenly, as Greek uses its word for "youthful".[3] The comparative occurs, the superlative not.[2] In Church Latin it means young, youthful, suitable for youth.[6] English borrowed it in the 1620s as juvenile.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of youthful licence in speaking.[3][5][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a youthful body.[5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the ever-youthful Silenus.[3]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius of a violent illness.[3]
  • 1620s – Borrowed into English as juvenile.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a young person; youthful, juvenile.[3][5][1][6]
  2. Having the freshness or vigour of youth.[3]
  3. Violent, vehement.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com