Etymologically
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solum

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈsɔ.ɫũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsɔː.lum][1]

Forms

solum n (genitive solī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *se/olo- (“base, sole”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *se/ol-o- (“place, habitation”).[2][1] Cognate with Lithuanian sala (“island; village”), Old Church Slavonic село (selo, “field, village”), Old High German sal (“dwelling, room”) and Old Norse salr (“hall”).[2] Because *selo- would also give Latin /solu-/, it is uncertain whether it continues *sel- or *sol-.[2] Isidore derived it from soliditās, as everything that bears a weight.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, whose parasite threatens to put all bankers under the sole of his foot.[2][4][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

Its general sense was the bottom on which a thing rests: the base or foundation of a structure, the bottom of a ditch or pool, the sole of the foot or a shoe, and the floor of a house, as Cicero's marble floors.[5][6] From the ground underfoot it meant the soil, especially as cultivated, then a country's soil, one's native land, and the ground, as in sōlō aequāre “to raze to the ground”.[5]

Döderlein contrasts solum, the solid ground opposed to air and water, with fundus and vadum.[7] It survives in Italian suolo, French sol and Spanish suelo, and English solum is used in Scots law and soil science.[1][8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of the sole of the foot.[5][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of marble floors.[5][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the ground.[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The base, foundation (of a structure), ab solō, from the ground up.[5]
  2. The sole (of the foot or a shoe).[5]
  3. The floor (of a house).[5]
  4. Soil, earth.[5]
  5. The soil of a country, land.[5]
  6. The ground, solō aequāre, to raze to the ground.[5]

Word family

  • sōlārium
  • sōlārius
  • solea
  • solifundium
  • solivertiātor
  • assolō

Usage notes

Sōlum (long ō) is the adverb “only”, the accusative of sōlus, as in nōn sōlum ... sed etiam “not only ... but also”.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com