alium

See also: -alium

Latin

Etymology 1

Unknown according to de Vaan (2008). May be connected to āla (“wing”), on the image of the garlic bulb being divided into "wings"; for a similar derivation from garlic being "cloven" cf. the etymology of German Knoblauch (“garlic”). It has also been compared with the Greek gloss of ἄλλην (állēn) as 'vegetables' "among the Italians", which may stem from another Italic language, and if so, has no direct bearing on the etymological consideration of Latin ālium.

Based only on the form allium, Kroonen (2012) suggests that it may be a borrowing from the root of Ancient Greek ἄγλις (áglis), specifically via a byform *adlī-. See the Ancient Greek entry for more.

According to Roberts, from Proto-Indo-European *ālu- (“bitter plant”).

Alternative forms

• allium (from 1st century CE)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈaː.li.um/, [ˈäːlʲiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.um/, [ˈäːlium]

Noun

ālium n (genitive āliī or ālī); second declension

1. garlic, onion

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ālium	ālia
Genitive	āliī ālī1	āliōrum
Dative	āliō	āliīs
Accusative	ālium	ālia
Ablative	āliō	āliīs
Vocative	ālium	ālia

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

Descendants

Descendants

• Eastern Romance
  • Aromanian: alj, aljiu
  • Megleno-Romanian: al'
  • Romanian: ai
• Gallo-Italic
  • Ligurian: aggio
  • Piedmontese: aj
  • Romagnol: àj
• Italo-Dalmatian
  • Corsican: aglia
  • Dalmatian: ail, alj, agl, aill
  • Italian: aglio
  • Neapolitan: aglio

    Tarantino: aglie

  • Sicilian: agghia
• Old French:
  • French: ail
    • Haitian Creole: lay (from l’ail)
    • Mauritian Creole: lay (from l’ail)
    • Moore: lay (from l’ail)
  • Picard: al
  • Walloon: a
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: all
  • Occitan: alh
• Rhaeto-Romance
  • Friulian: ai
  • Romansch: agl
• Sardinian: àllu, azu

  Campidanese: allu

• Venetian: ajo
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: allo
  • Asturian: ayu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: alho
    • Galician: allo
    • Portuguese: alho (see there for further descendants)
  • Spanish: ajo (see there for further descendants)

See also

• ālum (“wild garlic”)

Further reading

• “alium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “alium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• alium 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)
• alium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) he is a young man of great promise: adulescens alios bene de se sperare iubet, bonam spem ostendit or alii de adulescente bene sperare possunt
    
• “alium”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.um/, [ˈälʲiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.li.um/, [ˈäːlium]

Adjective

alium

1. accusative masculine singular of alius