dilectus

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Latin

Etymology 1

Perfect passive participle of dīligō (“I esteem, love, select”).

Participle

dīlēctus (feminine dīlēcta, neuter dīlēctum, superlative dīlēctissimus); first/second-declension participle

  1. having been esteemed, loved, beloved
    • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Proverbs.31.2:
      quid dīlēctē mī quid dīlēctē uterī meī quid dīlēctē vōtōrum meōrum
      What, O my beloved, what, O the beloved of my womb, what, O the beloved of my vows? (Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.; 1752 CE)
Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative dīlēctus dīlēcta dīlēctum dīlēctī dīlēctae dīlēcta
Genitive dīlēctī dīlēctae dīlēctī dīlēctōrum dīlēctārum dīlēctōrum
Dative dīlēctō dīlēctō dīlēctīs
Accusative dīlēctum dīlēctam dīlēctum dīlēctōs dīlēctās dīlēcta
Ablative dīlēctō dīlēctā dīlēctō dīlēctīs
Vocative dīlēcte dīlēcta dīlēctum dīlēctī dīlēctae dīlēcta
Descendants
  • Portuguese: dileto
  • Spanish: dilecto

Etymology 2

From dīligō (“I esteem, love, select”) +‎ -tus (action noun suffix), literally “selection”.

Noun

dīlēctus m (genitive dīlēctūs); fourth declension

  1. selection, choice, distinction
  2. levy, draft, conscription
    Multis de causis Caesar maiorem Galliae motum expectans per Marcum Silanum, Gaium Antistium Reginum, Titum Sextium legatos dilectum habere instituit
    Caesar, expecting for many reasons a greater commotion in Gaul, resolves to hold a levy by the means of M. Silanus C. Antistius Reginus, and T. Sextius, his lieutenants.
    (Caesar, De bello gallico, VI 1)
  3. enlistment
Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative dīlēctus dīlēctūs
Genitive dīlēctūs dīlēctuum
Dative dīlēctuī dīlēctibus
Accusative dīlēctum dīlēctūs
Ablative dīlēctū dīlēctibus
Vocative dīlēctus dīlēctūs

References

  • “dilectus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “dilectus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • dilectus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) to hold a levy: dilectum habere
  • “dilectus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “lego, -ere”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 332
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