The corpus record — Latin

silex

silex · m

Any hard stone found in fields

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Moretum, Appendix Vergiliana 2 · 25.84/10k
Carminum minorum corpusculum 6 · 7.1/10k
Epigrammata Ausonii de diversis rebus 2 · 5.49/10k
Cathemerina 2 · 2.72/10k
Amores 4 · 2.56/10k
Ibis 1 · 2.54/10k
Phoenissae 1 · 2.45/10k
Carmina 3 · 2.33/10k
Eclogues 1 · 2.2/10k
De agri cultura 3 · 1.92/10k
Poenulus 2 · 1.81/10k
Psychomachia 1 · 1.67/10k

Densest 12 of 48 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. sĭlex — Lewis & Short

sĭlex, ĭcis, m. (poet. and late Lat.; also

I fem., Verg. E. 1, 15; id. A. 6, 471; 6, 602; 8, 233; Ov. M. 9, 225; 9, 304; 9, 613; Amm. 14, 6, 16; cf. Quint. 1, 6, 2; gen. plur. silicum, Lucr. 6, 683; Luc. 4, 304) [root sar-, to be firm; cf.: solum, solidus].

I Any hard stone found in fields, a pebble-stone, a flint, flint-stone: silicem caedere, Cic. Div. 2, 41, 85: silice vias sternere, Liv. 41, 27; cf. id. 41, 27, § 7: silici scintillam excudere, Verg. A. 1, 174: gravem medios silicem jaculatus in hostes, Ov. M. 7, 139 et saep.: per ampla spatia urbis, subversasque silices, pavements, Amm. 14, 6, 16; cf.: silicem pedibus quae conteret atrum, Juv. 6, 350.— Freq. joined with lapis: Ag. Illa mulier lapidem silicem subigere, ut se amet, potest. Mi. Pol id quidem haud mentire: nam tu es lapide silice stultior, Plaut. Poen. 1, 2, 77 sq.; Cato, R. R. 18, 3; Liv. 30, 43; Fest. s. v. lapidem, p. 115 Müll.; and in inscrr.: II VIRI VIAM LAPID(e) SILIC(e) STERN(endam) CVR(averunt), Inscr. Bull. dell' Inst. 1839, p. 60; so Inscr. Orell. 6617.—With saxum: porcum saxo silice percussit, Liv. 1, 24 fin. —To denote hard-heartedness: non silice nati sumus, Cic. Tusc. 3, 6, 12: nec in tenero stat tibi corde silex, Tib. 1, 1, 64: nec rigidas silices in pectore gerit, Ov. M. 9, 614: et dicam silices pectus habere tuum, id. Tr. 3, 11, 4: moturaque duras Verba queror silices, id. M. 9, 304.—

II In gen., a rock, crag (poet.), Lucr. 6, 683: validi silices, id. 1, 571; 2, 449: stabat acuta silex praecisis undique saxis, Verg. A. 8, 233: nudus silex, bare rick, Sen. Phoen. 69: excisae rupes durissimi silicis, Suet. Calig. 37: juventus duris silicum lassata metallis, Luc. 4, 304: Lycius Phrygiusque silex, Stat. S. 1, 2, 148.—Of limestone, Ov. M. 7, 107; cf. Plin. 36, 23, 53, § 174.

2. silex — Walde–Hofmann

silex, -icis m. (dicht. £.) „Kiesel, harter Stein“; auch „Mühlstein, Feuerstein* (Pokrowsky IF. 49, 106) (seit Plaut. und Cato, rom., ebenso silicärius seit Frontin [= uvAoupyöc Cl), siliceus seit Cato und rom, *gilicäre, *siligneus): — dissimiliert aus *scilec- wie siligua „Schote“ aus *sceliguä, s. 2. calc oben I 145 m. Lit., Johansson KZ. 30, 436, Fick Wb.? 486 (unrichtig BB. 24, 301: als *jsilek- zu ahd. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. silex, p. 1442]

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. silex (scan p. 649; entry #10735).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. silex (scan pp. 1442-1444; entry #2614). Root candidates: *scilec-, *jsilek-, *psil-.

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.