rutilus

See also: Rutilus

Latin

Possibly either:

from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂réw-ti-s ~ *h₂ru-téy-s, from *h₂rew- (“to shine”) +‎ *-tis, perhaps cognate to Proto-Celtic *ruteinos (“shiny reddish, rust colored”), via either:
- If one follows Sen in supposing an origin from older rutulus with labial dissimilation,^[1] one can derive this from *rutis (“redness”) +‎ *-elos (desubstantival suffix);
- Via reconstructing -i- as the original second vowel instead of *-e-; some scholars believe that *-i- did not merge with *-e- during vowel reductions before -l-:
  - Schaffner reconstructs Proto-Italic *rutilos and segments this as Proto-Indo-European *h₂ruti-lo-;^[2]
  - Prósper posits instead Proto-Italic *rutiðos, the -ilus in Latin thus serving as a lambdacized counterpart to Latin -idus.^[3]
or dissimilated from Proto-Italic *rutrelos (compare Latin clītellae) also with labial dissimilation, from *rutros, variant of *ruðros (“red”) (whence Latin ruber (“red”)) + *-elos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰ-ró-s (“red”), from *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”) +‎ *-rós.^[4]

rutilus (feminine rutila, neuter rutilum); first/second-declension adjective

The meaning is, in principle, a strong grade of rūfus. Neither rutilus nor rūfus refer to only one hue, but rutilus may be thought of as a strengthening of rūfus. In Plautus once, rutilus is indeed found where a comparative meaning "redder" would fit as well: nam hoc quidem pol ē rōbīgine, nōn est ē ferrō factum, ita quantō magis extergeō, rutilum fit atque tenuius. Similarly Marcus Fronto considered rutilus to mean the most expressed grade of red alongside pūniceus and, according to him, spādīx.

	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
	singular			plural
nominative	rutilus	rutila	rutilum	rutilī	rutilae	rutila
genitive	rutilī	rutilae	rutilī	rutilōrum	rutilārum	rutilōrum
dative	rutilō	rutilae	rutilō	rutilīs
accusative	rutilum	rutilam	rutilum	rutilōs	rutilās	rutila
ablative	rutilō	rutilā	rutilō	rutilīs
vocative	rutile	rutila	rutilum	rutilī	rutilae	rutila

^ Sen, Ranjan (2015), Syllable and Segment in Latin, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 22
^ Schaffner, Stefan (2016/17), “Lateinisch rutilus ‘rötlich, gelbrot, goldgelb’, altir. ruithen ‘Strahl, Glanz’ und kymr. rwt ‘Rost, Korrosion’”, in Hans Christian Luschützky, Robert Nedoma, Stefan Schumacher, editors, Die Sprache: Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft‎^[1], number 1, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, pages 102-123
^ Prósper, Blanca María (2024), “Celto-Venetica: Indo-European Names from North-Eastern Italy and the Dialectal Classification of Venetic”, in Voprosy Onomastiki‎^[2], number 2, Ekaterinburg: Ural University Press, →DOI, pages 9-50
^ Risch, Ernst (1979), “Die idg. Wurzel *reudh- im Lateinischen”, in Brogyanyi, Bela, editor, Studies in Diachronic, Synchronic, and Typological Linguistics: Festschrift for Oswald Szemérenyi on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory) (in German), volume 11, →DOI, pages 705–724

albus, candidus, cānus, marmoreus (poetic), eburneus (poetic), niveus (poetic), argenteus (poetic), lacteus (poetic)	rāvus, pullus, mūrīnus (of livestock)	niger, āter, furvus, fuscus ("swarthy"), piceus (poetic)
ruber, russus, rūbidus (dark), flammeus (poetic); rutilus, pūniceus, spādīx (poetic), sanguineus (poetic)	rūfus, rutilus, rōbus (of oxen), croceus (poetic), aureus (poetic); fulvus (poetic), niger (of eyes), badius (of horses)	lūteus, flāvus ("blond"), lūridus, gilvus (of horses), helvus (of cattle); cēreus (poetic)
viridis, flāvus (poetic)	viridis, herbeus (of eyes), fulvus (poetic)	viridis, glaucus (poetic), caeruleus (poetic, only dark)
	glaucus (poetic), caeruleus, caesius (of eyes)	caeruleus, līvidus, ferrūgineus (poetic), glaucus (poetic)
violāceus	purpureus (underlying shade)	roseus