oralis

Pronunciation

• Classical: [oːˈraː.lɪs]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [oˈraː.lis]^[1]

Forms

ōrālis (neuter ōrāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ōs¹ (“mouth”) + -ālis.^[1][2][3] De Vaan traces ōs¹ to Proto-Italic *ōs- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃eh₁-os (“mouth”).^[4] The TLL notes that Old French orel, a word for a head covering, continues it.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cassius Felix, the first to use it, speaks of a remedy for the mouth “which the Greeks call stomatice”.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL has it as an adjective of what belongs to the mouth, and doubtfully a neuter orale used as a noun, like orarium, in a gloss that explains peplum as orale.^[2] Ecclesiastical dictionaries give it simply as oral.^[6]

English oral (1620s) comes from this Late Latin word.^[7]

Timeline

• 447 AD – Cassius Felix uses it of a remedy for the mouth.^[2][3]
• 1620s – English takes it as oral.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Of or for the mouth, oral.^[2][1][5]

Noun

1. (Late Latin) orale: a cloth or veil, the same as orarium (a doubtful gloss).^[2]

Related words

• English oral

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com