nihilum Latin · revision 30739

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=compound|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la hīlum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈni.(ɦ)ɪ.ɫũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈniː.ki.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nihilum''' ''n'' (genitive nihilī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The contracted ''nīlum'' appears in Terence, Lucretius, Cicero's letters and Horace.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from the negative [[m|la|ne-]] and [[m|la|hīlum|t=a trifle]], “not a bit”, from ⟨*ne hīlom⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) [[nihil]] developed from it in unstressed position.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary notes that both the lack of elision of the first vowel and the shortening of the second are unexpected; ⟨hīlum⟩ itself has no etymology.^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus, ''Mercator'': ''hōrunc illa nihilum quicquam facere poterit'', “she will be able to do none of these things”.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Nihilum'' is “nothing”, with ''dē nihilō'' “without reason, for nothing”, and in philosophy that which does not exist: Cicero speaks of what arises from nothing or suddenly vanishes into nothing, and ''ad nihilum venīre'' is “to come to nothing”.^(OLD 2012) Its cases serve in fixed phrases: the genitive of value in ''nihilī pendere'', ''facere'' or ''putāre'', “to care nothing for” (Plautus), and ''nihilī'' “worthless”;^(OLD 2012) ''prō nihilō dūcere'', “to count as nothing”; the ablative with comparatives, ''nihilō'' “by no degree” (''nihilō sētius'', “none the less”); and the accusative ''nihilum'' “not at all” (Horace).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “nothing”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ''nihilum quicquam'' and ''nihilī pendere''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of what arises from nothing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of fearing what is not to be feared at all.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|nothing]];^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995) ''dē nihilō'', for no reason.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Nothingness, the non-existent;^(OLD 2012) ''ad nihilum venīre'', to come to nothing.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''nihilī pendere'', ''facere'', ''putāre'': to care nothing for;^(OLD 2012) ''nihilī'', [[m|en|worthless]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(ablative, with comparatives)'' By no degree: ''nihilō sētius'', none the less.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(accusative, as adverb)'' Not at all.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nihil]]

+ * [[hīlum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}