lilium Latin · revision 32510

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=grc λείριον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈliː.li.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈliː.li.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''līlium''' ''n'' (genitive līliī or līlī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Wiktionary takes it as [[bor|grc|λείριον|tr=leírion|t=lily]].^(Wiktionary) De Vaan and the OLD think rather that the Latin and the Greek word were both borrowed from a non-Indo-European language of the eastern Mediterranean, and compare a Coptic word for "lily".^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) The TLL finds it hard to decide whether lilium came from the Greek word by assimilation of /r/ to /l/ or whether both come from a common source.^(TLL) Varro already derived it from the Greek, and Isidore from [[m|la|lac|t=milk]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Varro, who writes about sowing lilies and saffron.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the lily: Pliny the Elder ranks it next to the rose, and Virgil and Propertius describe white and shining lilies.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Caesar reports that soldiers called a camouflaged pit with stakes a "lily".^(OLD 2012) Gregory the Great uses it, and in Medieval Latin it also names a necklace and a lily-shaped ornament on buildings.^(Köbler 2010)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of sowing lilies.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of the soldiers' name for a trap.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder ranks the lily next to the rose.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Middle Ages – a necklace; a lily-shaped ornament.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|lily]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(military slang)'' A [[m|en|booby trap|alt=booby-trap]], a camouflaged pit filled with stakes.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|necklace]]; a lily-shaped ornament on buildings.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[līliāceus]]

+ * [[līliētum]]

+ * [[līlinus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}