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

• Aromanian: fearicã
• Galician: felgo, felga
• Interlingua: filice
• Italian: felce
• Neapolitan: felece
• Portuguese: felga
• Romanian: ferigă
• Romansch: felisch
• Sardinian: filiche, filighe, filixi, fibixi, fixibi
• Sicilian: fìlici
• Venetian: féłese, féles, félse
• Walloon: fetchire
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *filicaria
  • Catalan: falguera
  • French: fougère
  • Occitan: falguièra
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: felgueyra
    • Galician: folgueira
    • Portuguese: felgueira
• ⇒ Late Latin: filicicula
  • Catalan: falzilla

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.