bilis Latin · revision 5300
16 Oct 2026, 02:14 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Plautus}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈbiː.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbiː.lis]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''bīlis''' ''f'' (genitive bīlis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*bistli-]], following Schrijver's demonstration that the British Celtic words [[cy|bustl|t=gall]] and [[br|bestl|t=gall]] go back to *bistlis.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) No further cognates are known, and since Latin and Brythonic *b- do not regularly match in inherited words, Wiktionary considers it a likely borrowing from an unknown source.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Cato prescribes cabbage to make the body throw off bile and phlegm.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was bile, the fluid secreted by the liver, and in old medicine the humour, ''ātra bīlis'' “black bile” was melancholy.^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline) Figuratively it meant anger, ill temper, and also madness or folly, as in Horace.^(OLD 2012) Pliny uses ''bīlis suffūsa'' of jaundice.^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ Döderlein contrasts ''bīlis'', human gall and the symbol of anger, with [[fel]], the gall of animals and the symbol of bitterness.^(Döderlein 1874) [[en|bile]] came from French in the 1660s, and [[en|bilious]] from ''bīliōsus''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of bile and phlegm.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the anger of an enemy.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1660s – English ''bile'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # [[m|en|bile]], gall, ''ātra bīlis'', black bile, [[m|en|melancholy]].^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline)
+ # Anger, ill temper.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Madness, folly.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[bīliōsus]]
+ * [[bīlifer]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|bile]]
+ * [[en|bilious]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}