salictum

Forms

salictum n (genitive salictī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin salix (“willow”) + -tum (“grove”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces salix to Proto-Italic *salik-, an Italo-Celtic tree name that he thinks is probably not Indo-European.^[3] Cognate with Old Irish sail (“willow”), Welsh helyg (“willow”), Old High German salaha (“willow”) and Old English sealh (“willow”).^[3] Wiktionary notes that it is attested earlier and more often than salicētum,^[1] from which Lewis & Short derived it by contraction.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] and Köbler from Ennius;^[5] Cato also has it.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a group of willows, growing wild or planted, an osier bed.^[2] Cato, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Livy, Ovid, Juvenal and Columella use it.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[3][4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato.^[4][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius.^[4][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group or plantation of willows, an osier bed.^[2][4][1]

Word family

• salictārius

Related words

• salix
• salicētum
• salignus

References

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