filix

Latin

Alternative forms

• felix

Etymology

Likely from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“henbane”) + -ix, a suffix akin to -ex found in other plant names (compare cārex (“sedge”), rumex (“sorrel”)). De Vaan posits that -ix is early, not a result of vowel assimilation at the Latin stage. Cognate to Welsh bele, Russian белена́ (belená), Czech blín, Middle Dutch bilse, Old English belene, German Bilsenkraut all meaning "henbane".

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfi.liks/, [ˈfɪlʲɪks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfi.liks/, [ˈfiːliks]

Noun

filix f (genitive filicis); third declension

1. fern

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	filix	filicēs
Genitive	filicis	filicum
Dative	filicī	filicibus
Accusative	filicem	filicēs
Ablative	filice	filicibus
Vocative	filix	filicēs

Derived terms

• filicātus
• filictum
• filicula
• *filicāria

Descendants

• Balkan-Romance:
  • Aromanian: fearicã
  • Romanian: ferigă
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: felce
  • Neapolitan: felece
  • Sicilian: fìlici
• North-Italian:
  • Emilian: felza, filas
  • Ligurian: frexa
  • Lombard: feles, felse, fias, firas, felec
  • Piedmontese: frais, frèis, flèis, files, fèilas, fèiles, fèils
  • Romagnol: felza
  • Romansch: felisch
  • Venetan: féłese, féles, félse
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Aragonese: felce, felz, fuelce, felche
  • Franco-Provençal: fioge
  • Gascon: heuç
  • Occitan:

    Languedocien: feuse

    Provençal: feuse, feuve

    Vivaro-Alpine: feuse, feuve

  • Walloon: fetchire
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Galician: felgo, felga
  • Portuguese: felga
• Sardinian: filiche, filighe, filixi, fibixi, fixibi
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *filicaria
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Aragonese: feleguera, felequera, folguera, falaguera, falguera
    • Catalan: falguera, falaguera (Valencia), folguera (Tavascan), foguera (Empordà)
    • Franco-Provençal: fiogiére
    • French: fougère
    • Gascon: heuguèra, hoguèra, hauguèra
    • Occitan:

      Auvergnat: fougeira, folgeira

      Languedocien: falguièra, fauguièra

      Limousin: faugiera

  • Ibero-Romance:
    • Old Galician-Portuguese: felgueyra
      • Galician: folgueira, felgueira, filgueira
      • Portuguese: felgueira
• ⇒ Late Latin: filicicula
  • Catalan: falzilla
• Borrowings:
  • Interlingua: filice

References

• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “filix”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

Further reading

• “filix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “filix”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• filix in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.