reliquiae

Forms

reliquiae f pl (genitive reliquiārum); first declension^[1] Poets scan the first syllable long and sometimes spell it relliquiae.^[2][3] Apuleius has a singular.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from reliquus (“remaining”) with the suffix -ia.^[2][1] De Vaan derives it from an older Proto-Italic *relikuwia, from the stem of relinquō (“to leave behind”), a compound of linquō (“to leave”), which goes back to the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *li-n-kʷ- of *leykʷ- (“to leave”); it is cognate with Ancient Greek λείπω (leípō, “to leave”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.^[4] In the Mostellaria a slave fears that, unless the master returns, only a few months' remnants will be left of his goods.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is what remains, remnants, the leftovers of a meal (Plautus has scraps warmed up), and the consequences that remain of something, as Cicero's reliquiae of a common disaster.^[2] It is the remains of the dead, especially the ashes after cremation, already in Pacuvius, the survivors of a group or of an event, as Virgil's Trojans, “the leavings of the Greeks and of cruel Achilles”, and the unfinished remainder of a task (Cicero).^[2][3]

In Church and medieval Latin it was above all the relics of saints.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of remnants and scraps.^[2][4][6]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of the remains of the dead.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of consequences and of unfinished work.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of survivors.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Remnants, remains; leftovers (of a meal).^[2][1][3]
2. The remains of the dead, ashes.^[2][1]
3. Survivors.^[2][1]
4. Vestiges, traces; the remainder (of a task).^[2]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Relics (of saints).^[5]

Related words

• relinquō
• reliquus
• linquō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c 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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de