rutilo

Forms

rutilō (present infinitive rutilāre, perfect active rutilāvī, supine rutilātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rutilus (“glowing red”),^[2][1] with the verbal suffix -ō.^[2] De Vaan lists it among the words of the family of ruber (“red”), but finds no good explanation for rutilus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it from Accius on.^[3] In a tragedy of his, a speaker sees the dawn glowing red.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Used intransitively it meant to glow with a bright or golden red, as of the dawn in Accius or of weapons in Virgil.^[2][4] Used transitively it meant to colour the hair red: Livy has it of the long reddened hair of the Gauls,^[2] and Pliny the Elder, Suetonius and Tacitus use it of dyeing hair.^[4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to glow, glitter or shine.^[5]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of the glowing dawn.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of glowing arms.^[4][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the reddened hair of the Gauls.^[2][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of dyeing hair.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To glow with a bright or golden red colour.^[2][4]
2. (transitive) To colour (the hair) red; to redden.^[2][4]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To glow, glitter, shine.^[5]

Word family

• irrutilo
• rutilescō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de