ilex Latin · revision 31779

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=204–169 BC, Ennius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈiː.ɫɛks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈiː.leks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īlex''' ''f'' (genitive īlicis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It has no etymology.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler and Wiktionary take it from a lost non-Indo-European language of the Mediterranean.^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Wiktionary notes that Romance forms such as [[m|it|elce]] start with a vowel that is not the regular outcome of Latin long ⟨ī⟩; one hypothesis traces them to an Osco-Umbrian form in ⟨*ēl-⟩, while Hall preferred a contamination from a descendant of [[aesculus|t=Italian oak]].^(Wiktionary) Isidore connected it with [[ēlectus|t=chosen]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Ennius,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) as quoted by Macrobius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the holm oak, ''Quercus ilex'', and was also applied to the kermes oak.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It also means the wood of the tree, as Virgil's pyre of pine and cut ilex, and its acorns, as Martial's pig fattened on ilex.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “holm oak”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of ilex wood on a pyre.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial of a pig fed on acorns.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|ilex]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|holm oak]]; also the [[m|en|kermes]] oak.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Its wood; its [[m|en|acorns]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[īlicētum]]

+ * [[īliceus]]

+ * [[īlicīnus]]

+ * [[īligneus]]

+ * [[īlignus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|ilex]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The adjectives ''īlignus'' and ''īligneus'' mean “of the holm oak”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}