Etymologically
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senilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɛˈniː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [seˈniː.lis][1]

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

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