ilicet Latin · revision 33366

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īlicet''' (not comparable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|eō#1|licet|alt1=īre|t1=to go|t2=it is permitted]], literally “one may go”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) The OLD also allows the imperative ⟨ī⟩ as the first part.^(OLD 2012) It is formed like [[m|la|scīlicet]] and [[m|la|vidēlicet]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) De Vaan traces [[m|la|licet]] to [[itc-pro|*lik-ē-|t=to be available, have the value of]] and finds no certain cognates of the root outside Italic.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it from Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) In the ''Mostellaria'' it answers the words “then I'll go in without a guide”: ''ilicet'', off you go.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Ancient commentators explain it as a formula of dismissal: Donatus says the herald pronounced it to dismiss the judges when the business was over, and Servius, citing Varro, that it was the last word spoken at a funeral.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) In comedy it is an exclamation of dismissal, with a dative in the phrase ''ilicet malam crucem'', to hell with someone, as Plautus says of the parasite's art,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and an exclamation of dismay, that's the end, it's all over, as in Plautus' ''ilicet: mandata eri perierunt'', “it's all up: my master's orders are lost”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Through the idea of hurrying off it came to mean at once, straight away;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short find this in Afranius and in the Augustan poets.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil uses it so in the ''Aeneid'', as ''ilicet obruimur numero'', “at once we are overwhelmed by numbers”,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and so do Statius and Valerius Flaccus.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, as a word of dismissal and of dismay.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence, “it's all over”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, “at once”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius, “at once”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # You may go, off with you (a formula of [[m|en|dismissal]]); with a dative, to hell with.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # It's all over, it's all up (expressing dismay).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # At once, [[m|en|straightaway]], immediately.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[licet]]

+ * [[ilico|alt=īlicō]]

+ * [[scilicet|alt=scīlicet]]

+ * [[videlicet|alt=vidēlicet]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}