florilegium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Renaissance Latin flōrilēgium, calque of Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (anthología, “flower-gathering”) (compare English anthology), so called because flowers were used as symbols of the finer sensibility of literature.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌflɔɹəˈliːdʒi.əm/

Noun

florilegium (plural florilegia)

1. A collection of flowers
2. A patristic anthology

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “florilegium”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

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Latin

Etymology

Calque of Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (anthología, “flower-gathering”). Surface analysis: flōrilegus (“flower-gathering”, adjective) +‎ -ium (nominalizing suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /floː.riˈle.ɡi.um/, [fɫ̪oːrɪˈɫ̪ɛɡiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /flo.riˈle.d͡ʒi.um/, [floriˈlɛːd͡ʒium]

Noun

flōrilegium n (genitive flōrilegiī or flōrilegī); second declension

1. (Renaissance Latin) anthology

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	flōrilegium	flōrilegia
Genitive	flōrilegiī flōrilegī1	flōrilegiōrum
Dative	flōrilegiō	flōrilegiīs
Accusative	flōrilegium	flōrilegia
Ablative	flōrilegiō	flōrilegiīs
Vocative	flōrilegium	flōrilegia

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

Descendants

• → English: florilegium
• → French: florilège
• → Italian: florilegio
• → Spanish: florilegio