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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pilo

pilo1 fix firmly

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
204–169 BC, Ennius
Ultimate origin
Latin pīla
Etymology tree of pilo1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pila
English pile
Latin pilo
From the same root · pilo1
Latin pilula ← pila

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpiː.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpiː.lo][1]

Forms

pīlō (present infinitive pīlāre, supine pīlātum); first conjugation, no perfect stem[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning “fix firmly” is from Latin pīla2 (“squared pillar, pier”), with the verbal suffix -ō.[2][3][4] De Vaan calls the origin of the noun unknown, but compares the Oscan verb ⟨ehpeílatasset⟩ “they erected (a stele)”, which he takes as a verb formed on the same noun with a prefix meaning “out”.[3] Lewis & Short and Georges instead equate it with Ancient Greek πιλέω (piléō).[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records pīlāre from Ennius on.[3] The line the dictionaries quote is a fragment of the poet Hostius, preserved by Servius: hastam pīlāns prae pondere frangit, “driving the spear home, he breaks it by the weight”.[5][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb is rare: the dictionaries give it only the sense of fixing something firmly or driving it home,[2][4][7] and Georges renders it “to press together”.[6] The TLL lists Romance verbs such as Italian pillare and French piler under it.[8] Its participle pīlātus was used as an adjective meaning “close-pressed, dense”.[5]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – De Vaan dates the verb from Ennius.[3][9]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius quotes the line of Hostius in his commentary on Virgil.[5][8][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fix firmly, drive home (a spear).[2][4][7]
  2. To press together, compress.[6]

Word family

  • pīlātus

pilo2 pluck

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
before 66 AD, Petronius
Ultimate origin
Latin pilus
Etymology tree of pilo2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pilus
French poil
Latin pilo
From the same root · pilo2
Latin pilosus ← pilus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɪ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpiː.lo][1]

Forms

pilō (present infinitive pilāre, perfect active pilāvī, supine pilātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning “pluck” is from Latin pilus1 (“hair”), with the verbal suffix -ō;[2][6][10] the OLD compares dēpilātus (“having one's hair plucked”).[2] The TLL takes it as a back-formation from dēpilō and expīlō, perhaps a late one, made when the old intransitive verb was no longer in use.[8] De Vaan gives no further etymology for pilus.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest use the dictionaries cite is figurative: Petronius has the proverbial malam parram pilāvit, “he plucked a bad parra”, which the TLL explains as meeting with bad luck.[8][5][7] In its literal sense, “to remove the hair from”, it appears in Martial.[2][5][8]

Semantic evolution

Martial uses it of plucking the hair from the body,[5][8] and the OLD notes a possible figurative sense “to dress down, savage”.[2] A text cited as Chiron uses it of a suckling puppy prepared for cooking.[8] Georges and Lewis & Short take the Late Latin sense “to plunder” in Ammianus Marcellinus as a transfer of this verb (see Usage notes).[6][5] The verb lives on in Italian pelare, French peler and Spanish pelar.[8]

Timeline

  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it in the proverbial malam parram pilāvit.[8][9]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of removing hair from the body.[5][8][9]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses pilāre for plundering camps and villas.[5][6][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To deprive of hair or feathers, pluck, depilate.[2][5][4]
  2. (figurative) Perhaps, to dress down, savage.[2]
  3. (Late Latin) To plunder, pillage.[5][6][7]

Word family

  • ālipilus
  • pilātrīx

Usage notes

The OLD has a third, intransitive pilō “to grow hairy”, also from pilus;[2] Lewis & Short quote it from Afranius and Novius, and Paulus' epitome of Festus explains pilat as “begins to have hairs”.[5][8]

The Late Latin “to plunder” in Ammianus Marcellinus is filed differently: Georges and Lewis & Short put it under the verb meaning “pluck”,[6][5] Gaffiot makes it a third pīlō,[4] and the TLL treats it as a separate verb, perhaps an archaism or a back-formation from compīlō, expīlō and suppīlō.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  10. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier

Derived terms

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Pilo.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pilo. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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