tortilis

Forms

tortilis (neuter tortile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin torqueō (“to twist”) + -ilis¹,^[2][3][4] and Wiktionary derives it more closely from the participle tortus¹ (“twisted”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil's Aeneid (7.351), where tortile aurum is a twisted gold necklace.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to poetry and post-Augustan prose.^[7] Ovid has it of a twisted horn, a curved handle and a fish's coiled body,^[7][5] Lucan of sinews, and Pliny the Elder of a vine tendril.^[7][3]

In medieval Britain it described twisted thread and, figuratively, convoluted syllogisms and sophisms.^[8]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of a tortile aurum, a twisted gold necklace.^[5][9]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a twisted horn and a curved handle.^[7][9]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a vine tendril.^[7][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Twisted, coiled, winding.^[2][7]
2. (Medieval Latin) Convoluted, of arguments.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de