tilia

Forms

tilia f (genitive tiliae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3] De Vaan finds only one close cognate, Ancient Greek πτελέα (pteléa, “elm”); either both words were borrowed from a third language, or Latin took the Greek word as ⟨*telia⟩ and changed its meaning to the lime tree.^[2] Wiktionary likewise thinks of a Mediterranean substrate word, also seen in Old Armenian թեղի (tʻełi).^[1] Köbler cites Pokorny's Proto-Indo-European *ptelei̯ā (“a tree”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Virgil,^[2][4] for the lime tree.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Besides the tree it named its inner bark, which Pliny the Elder describes and which was used for medical applications and as a writing material: Ulpian counts books written in tiliā beside those on papyrus or other materials.^[3][5] Pliny also applies the word to the inner bark of the elm.^[5]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil names the lime tree.^[2][5][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes its inner bark.^[5][4]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian mentions books written on lime bark.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The linden or lime tree.^[3][5]
2. The inner bark of the lime, also of other trees, used as a writing material or in medicine.^[3][5]

Word family

• tiliāgineus
• tiliāris
• tiliāceus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press