senilis

Forms

senīlis (neuter senīle, adverb senīliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin senex (“old, old man”) + -īlis.^[2][3][1] De Vaan notes that it can also come from an older o-stem, as servīlis (“slavish”) and puerīlis (“childish”), and traces senex to Proto-Italic *seno- (“old”) and Proto-Indo-European *sen-(o-) (“old”).^[4] Cognate with Old Irish sen (“old”), Ancient Greek ἕνος (hénos, “of last year”) and Lithuanian sẽnas (“old”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is in Naevius' comedy, of an old man handling a worn-out fire-shovel.^[2] Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means of or proper to an old man, as Cicero's Tages, a boy in appearance but with an old man's wisdom, and his contrast of something old in a young man;^[3][2] Horace sets the parts of old men against those of men in their prime.^[3][2] Seneca applies it to a particular old man, as Nestor's Pylos.^[2] Of persons and their bodies it means old or aged, as Ovid's old man's cheeks wet with tears and his trembling hands, and of conditions inveterate.^[2] Church Latin glosses it old, aged, senile.^[6] English senile (1660s) came through French.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of an old man's tool.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of an old man's wisdom.^[3][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of an old man's tears.^[2][5]
• 1660s – English senile, through French.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, proper to or characteristic of an old man.^[2][3][6][1]
2. Of persons, old, aged; of conditions, inveterate.^[2][1]

Word family

• persenīlis

Related words

• senex
• senectūs
• English senile

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com