Siceln.adj.
/ˈsɪsəl//ˈsɪkəl/ A. n.
a. A member of an ancient people of Sicily.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > ancient people of Sicily > [noun]
Sicanian1629
Sicel1838
Sican1887
1838 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece (new ed.) II. xii. 92 The Sicels and the Phœnicians gradually retreated before the Greeks.
1881 B. Jowett tr. Thucydides Hist. Peloponnesian War I. 409 The Sicels were originally inhabitants of Italy,..there are Sicels still in Italy, and the country itself was so called from Italus a Sicel king.
1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 15/1 It is possible..that the Sikels belonged to the same branch of the Aryan family as the Italian, while Sikans, like Ligurians and Iberians and the surviving Basques, belonged to the earlier non-Aryan population of western Europe.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 24/2 That the Sicels spoke a tongue closely akin to Latin is plain from several Sicel words which crept into Sicilian Greek, and from the Siceliot system of weights and measures.
1948 T. J. Dunbabin Western Greeks i. 40 It appears that the Sikels moved from Sicily to Italy, not vice versa.
b. The language of this people.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > postulated Italo-Celtic > pre-Italic
Rhaetiana1832
Ligurian1835
Iapygian1882
Messapian1882
Venetic1903
Rhaetic1933
Picenian1939
Sicel1939
Picene1949
1939 L. H. Gray Found. Lang. 335 Besides the Italic dialects proper, mention must also be made of Sicel, of which a few glosses and an inscription of three lines have been preserved, and which seems to have belonged either to this group or to Ligurian.
1977 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 22 31 Messapic and Sicel in the south take on new significance vis à vis Iberian.
B. adj.
a. Of or pertaining to the Sicels or their language.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > ancient people of Sicily > [adjective]
Sicel1887
Sicanian1911
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Italic > pre-Italic
Messapian1608
Sicel1887
Venetic1922
1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 15/1 Some Sikel elements made their way into the Greek life of Sicily.
1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 15/2 The legend that a native Sikel prince led the Greek settlers to the foundation of Megara.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia IX. 182/2 The most important Sicel gods were the Palici..; Adranus..; and the goddess Hybla.
b. poetic. Sicilian.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > the Italians > [adjective] > Sicily
Siciliana1616
Sicanian1647
Sicel1895
Siculan1975
1895 L. Johnson Poems 37 Oh! Hellas lies far hence, Far the blue Sicel sea.
Derivatives
Categories »
Sikelian adj. and n. in same senses; also Archaeology, denoting the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages in Sicily.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.adj.1838