hilum Latin · revision 33091

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈhiː.ɫũː]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hīlum''' ''n'' (genitive hīlī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) Wiktionary mentions a possible Semitic source, or a variant of [[m|la|fīlum|t=thread]] if the first sense was "little thread".^(Wiktionary) Festus, as reported by Paul the Deacon, says that the word was thought to mean what sticks to a bean, and Varro perhaps connected it with [[m|la|hīllae]].^(Lewis & Short 1879) Etymonline reports that it is said to have meant first "the eye of a bean".^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a minimal quantity, the least bit, usually after a negative, "not a whit".^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Ennius, quoted by Varro, has "what she gave she takes back herself, and loses not a bit", and a poet quoted by Cicero has Sisyphus rolling his rock and gaining not a whit.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucilius and Lucretius use it adverbially, "not at all";^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucretius also has it without a negative.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short call it ante-classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan explains [[nihil]] as coming from ''nihilum'', from ⟨*ne hīlom⟩, "not a bit".^(de Vaan 2008) In New Latin botany it is the scar on a seed where it was attached, and English took [[m|en|hilum]] from it in 1753.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of the earth losing not a bit.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, "you gain not a whit".^(OLD 2012)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius, adverbially.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 1753 – [[m|en|hilum]] appears in English botany.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|trifle]], the least bit;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''(with a negative)'' not a whit, not at all.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(New Latin, botany)'' The [[m|en|hilum]] of a seed.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[perhīlum]]

+ * [[nihilum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nihil]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}