silex Latin · revision 31866

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''silex''' ''m'' or f (genitive silicis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Walde and Hofmann and Pokorny assumed that ⟨*skelik-⟩ was dissimilated to ⟨silik-⟩ in this word and in [[m|la|siliqua|t=pod]], but de Vaan rejects this, since it rests only on a comparison with a Slavic word that belongs elsewhere.^(de Vaan 2008) He doubts that [[m|la|siliqua]] belongs here at all, given the different meanings.^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler compares the root [[ine-pro|*skel-|t=to cut]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) who says a woman could make a flint stone love her.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is any hard rock or stone, such as flint or lava, as in Afranius' frost that splits flints, and it is the stone of paved roads and buildings, as Livy's road paved with it.^(OLD 2012) Cato uses it of a single stone or boulder in foundations.^(OLD 2012) From its hardness it stands for lack of feeling, already in Plautus.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it “flint, rock, stone”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a flint stone made to love.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of stones in foundations.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * second half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius of frost splitting flints.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a road paved with stone.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Any hard stone or rock, [[m|en|flint]], [[m|en|lava]]; paving stone.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A stone, [[m|en|boulder]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Figuratively, hardness of heart.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[silicārius]]

+ * [[siliceus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[siliqua]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ It is usually masculine, but the poets and late writers also make it feminine, as Virgil, Ovid and Ammianus do.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}