asilus

See also: Asilus

Gothic

Romanization

asilus

1. romanization of 𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌿𐍃

Latin

Etymology

Unknown. De Vaan (2008) considers it a borrowing given the initial as- instead of a rhotacised ar- or a regularly degeminated ās- following a long vowel (< *āss-/āts-). However, the present form would in fact be a regular outcome of *ass-ī/ei-los under the "mamilla-rule", as also in pusillus, ofella. Compare asinus, likewise of obscure origin.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [aˈsiː.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [aˈs̬iː.lus]

Noun

asīlus m (genitive asīlī); second declension

1. (archaic or poetic) gadfly, horsefly

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	asīlus	asīlī
genitive	asīlī	asīlōrum
dative	asīlō	asīlīs
accusative	asīlum	asīlōs
ablative	asīlō	asīlīs
vocative	asīle	asīlī

Synonyms

• (gadfly, horsefly): tabānus

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: assillo
  • Sicilian: siḍḍu
• Borrowings:
  • → Translingual: Asilus

References

• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
• “asilus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “asilus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “asilus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers