solus

See also: Solus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sōlus.

Adjective

solus (not comparable)

1. alone, unaccompanied (as a stage direction)

   Enter Hector solus.

2. (advertising, dated) Appearing on its own page.
   • 2024, Basant Rathore, Strategic Media Planning and Buying:

     However, within this also, there are options available. Will a Front Page Solus ad work better than a strip ad below the mast head? Will a Top of Column ad work better than […]

Derived terms

• semi-solus

Anagrams

• souls

Latin

Etymology

PIE word
*swé

The word has baffled etymologists for generations. Traditionally explained from earlier *swolos, from Proto-Italic *swelos, from Proto-Indo-European *swé (reflexive pronoun) (whence se (“oneself”)) + *-los, hence meaning "by oneself". De Vaan and other modern researchers, skeptical of the traditional explanation, refer it to the root *solh₂- (“whole, healthy”), which would make it akin to sollus and salvus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈsoː.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsɔː.lus]

Adjective

sōlus (feminine sōla, neuter sōlum); first/second-declension adjective (pronominal declension)

1. alone, sole, only, by oneself with no others around

   Sentīs mea vulnera, sentīs; atque utinam sōlī sint ea nōta tibi.

   You feel my wounds, you feel: and I hope they are only known to you.

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.22-23:

     “[...] sōlus hic īnflexit sēnsūs, animumque labantem / impulit [...].”

     “[...] this [is the] only [man who] swayed [my] feelings, and stirred [my] wavering heart [...].”

2. solitary, uninhabited
   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 4.513–514:

     ‘māter!’ ait virgō (mōta est dea nōmine mātris)
     ‘quid facis in sōlīs incomitāta locīs?’

     ‘‘Mother!’’ says the maiden (the goddess was moved by the name of mother),
     ‘‘What are you doing unattended in lonely places?’’
     (A young shepherdess chances upon the goddess Ceres who, having disguised herself as an old woman, is searching everywhere for her own lost daughter, Persephone.)

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (pronominal declension).

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	sōlus	sōla	sōlum		sōlī	sōlae	sōla
genitive	sōlī̆us				sōlōrum	sōlārum	sōlōrum
dative	sōlī				sōlīs
accusative	sōlum	sōlam	sōlum		sōlōs	sōlās	sōla
ablative	sōlō	sōlā	sōlō		sōlīs
vocative	sōle	sōla	sōlum		sōlī	sōlae	sōla

Derived terms

• dēsōlō
• sōlā mente
• Sōlifidiānus
• sōligenitus
• sōlitārius
• sōlitās
• sōlitātim
• sōlitūdo
• sōlum

Descendants

• Asturian: solu
• Catalan: sol, sols
• Old French: sol, seul, soul, sul
  • French: seul
  • → English: sole
• Friulian: sôl
• Istriot: sulo
• Italian: solo
  • → English: solo
  • → French: solo
  • → Portuguese: solo
• Occitan: sol
• Old Galician-Portuguese: soo, sol
  • Galician: só
  • Portuguese: só
• Romansh: sul
• Sardinian: solus (medieval), solu, sou
• Sicilian: sulu
• Spanish: solo

Further reading

• “solus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “solus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "solus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “solus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) sunrise; sunset: ortus, occasus solis
    
  • (ambiguous) an eclipse of the sun: solis defectio
    
  • (ambiguous) to be dried up by the sun's heat: ardore solis torreri
    
  • (ambiguous) the east winds are blowing: venti ab ortu solis flant
    
  • (ambiguous) to be situate to the north-west: spectare inter occasum solis et septentriones
    
  • (ambiguous) Solon, one of the seven sages: Solo, unus de septem (illis)
    
  • (ambiguous) Solo ordained by law that..: Solo lege sanxit, ut or ne
    
  • (ambiguous) to leave one's country (only used of exiles): solum vertere, mutare (Caecin. 34. 100)
    
  • (ambiguous) Solon made it a capital offence to..: Solo capite sanxit, si quis... (Att. 10. 1)
    
  • (ambiguous) to raze a town to the ground: oppidum solo aequare
    
  • (ambiguous) this is as clear as daylight: hoc est luce (sole ipso) clarius
    
• “solus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “solus”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Middle Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish solus.

Adjective

solus

1. bright
2. clear (of sound)
3. (intellectually) clear, lucid

Noun

solus m

1. light
2. clarity, intelligibility

Derived terms

• solusta

Descendants

• Irish: solas
• Manx: sollys
• Scottish Gaelic: solas

Mutation

Mutation of solus

radical	lenition	nasalization
solus	ṡolus	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Middle Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “solus”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Irish

Etymology

so- +‎ lés (compare Middle Irish dolus)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈso.lus/
  • (Blasse) [ˈso.lus]
  • (Griffith) [ˈso.løs]

Adjective

solus (equative soilsidir)

1. bright, clear

Inflection

u-stem

singular	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	solus	solus	solus
vocative	solus
accusative	solus	soluis
genitive	soluis	soilse	soluis
dative	solus	soluis	solus
plural	masculine	feminine/neuter
nominative	soilsi	soilsi
vocative	soilsi
accusative	soilsi
genitive	*
dative	soilsib

*not attested in Old Irish; same as nominative singular masculine in Middle Irish

Derived terms

• follus
• soilse

Descendants

• Middle Irish: solus
  • Irish: solas
  • Manx: sollys
  • Scottish Gaelic: solas

Mutation

Mutation of solus

radical	lenition	nasalization
solus	ṡolus	solus

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “solus”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Sardinian

Etymology

From Latin solus (“alone (adj.)”).

Adverb

solus

1. (obsolete, archaic) alone, by oneself

References

Hall, Robert Anderson. 1984. Proto-Romance morphology: Comparative Romance grammar. Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Page 31.

Traveller Norwegian

Etymology

From Latin solus, compare English solus. Probably from Rotwelsch: Latin borrowings in the languages of Norwegian Travellers are more common in Rodi, where some of them entered from Germany, and same can be true for some Latin words in the vocabulary of Romanisæl Travellers.

Adjective

solus

1. solus, by oneself

   Synonym: kåkkaro

References

• Ragnvald Iversen (1944), Secret languages in Norway, volume 1