filius

Latin

Alternative forms

fīlios (Old Latin)
F (Abbreviation)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *fīlios, *feilios (the Latin can reflect either one, but Faliscan fīleo, hīleo points to *fīl-), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁ylios (“sucker”), a derivation from the verbal root *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suck”). Related to fellō, fēmina, fētus, Old English delu (“nipple, teat”), dēon (“to suck, suckle”), Old Armenian դալ (dal). More at doe.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfiː.li.us/, [ˈfiːlʲiʊs̠]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfi.li.us/, [ˈfiːlius]
Audio (Classical) (file)

Noun

fīlius m (genitive fīliī or fīlī, feminine fīlia); second declension

a son
Synonyms: līber, nātus
Ubi est noster filius?
Where is our son?
- Caecilius Statius (died ca. 168 BC); in: Scaenicae romanorum poesis fragmenta secundis curis. Volumen II. Comicorum fragmenta. – Comicorum romanorum praeter Plautum et Terentium fragmenta secundis curis, edited by Otto Ribbeck, Leipzig, 1873, page 48:
  Fílius meus ín me incedit [éccum] sat hilará schema.
- Caecilius Statius (died ca. 168 BC); in: Remains of Old Latin, edited and translated by E. H. Warmington, vol. I, 1935, page 496f.:
  Priscianus, ap. G.L., II, 199, 17, K: 'Schema' pro 'schemate.' . . . Caecilius in Hypobolimaeo–
  . . . filius . . . in me incedit satis
  hilara schema.
  Aged peasant, guardian of the changeling Chaerestratus:
  Priscianus: 'Schema' for 'schemate.' . . . Caecilius in The Changeling–
  Here comes my son towards me in merry shape.
(by extension) any male descendant
(in the plural) children

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fīlius	fīliī
Genitive	fīliī fīlī¹	fīliōrum
Dative	fīliō	fīliīs
Accusative	fīlium	fīliōs
Ablative	fīliō	fīliīs
Vocative	fīlī	fīliī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Synonyms

nātus

Derived terms

affīliō
fīlia
fīliālis
fīliaster
fīlietās
fīliolus
prōfīlius (Mediaeval Latin)

Descendants

Balkan Romance:
- Aromanian: hilj, hiljiu, hilju
- Istro-Romanian: fiľ
- Megleno-Romanian: il'u
- Romanian: fiu
Dalmatian:
- felj
Italo-Romance:
- Corsican: figliu
- Italian: figlio
- Sicilian: figghiu
Padanian:
- Friulian: fi
- Istriot: feîo, fèio
- Ligurian: fìggio
- Piedmontese: fieul, fij
- Romansch: figl, fegl
- Venetian: fio
Northern Gallo-Romance:
- Old French: fil
  - Bourguignon: fi
  - Walloon: fi
  - ⇒ Old French: filz, fils, fis, fitz, fiz (nominative singular)
    - Middle French: filz
      - French: fils
    - Norman: fils, fis
    - → English: Fitz- (via Anglo-Norman fitz)
Southern Gallo-Romance:
- Catalan: fill
- Old Occitan: filh
  - Occitan: filh, fiu, hilh
Ibero-Romance:
- Aragonese: fillo
- Extremaduran: iju
- Mozarabic: פליו‎ (flyw)
- Old Leonese:
  - Asturian: fíu
  - Leonese: fiyu
  - Mirandese: filho
- Old Portuguese: fillo
  - Fala: fillu
  - Galician: fillo
  - Portuguese: filho (see there for further descendants)
- Old Spanish: fijo
  - Ladino:
    Hebrew: איז׳ו‎
    Latin: ijo
  - Spanish: hijo (see there for further descendants)
Insular Romance:
- Sardinian:
  Campidanese: fillu
  Logudorese: fizu, figiu

References

“filius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“filius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
filius in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
filius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette