Etymograph

English

sicilicus

Sicilicus comes from Latin sicilicus ‘a sicilicus’, from sicilis ‘sickle’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekaō1‘to cut’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsecō2‘to cut, cut off’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsicilis3‘sickle’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsicilicus3‘a sicilicus’diminutive form of sicilis
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1830sicilicus3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin seco
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin sicilis
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English sicilicus
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1830, Journal of the Philadelphia College of P: “Both the pounds were therefore divided alike into 15…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-Wiktionary, Latin seco‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekaōWiktionary, Latin seco‘to cut’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsecōWiktionary, Latin sicilis‘to cut, cut off’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsicilisWiktionary, English sicilicus‘sickle’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsicilicusWiktionary, English sicilicus‘a sicilicus’diminutive form of sicilis
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1830sicilicusWiktionary, English sicilicus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1830, Journal of the Philadelphia College of P: “Both the pounds were therefore divided alike into 15…”

The story

From the Latin sicilicus, the diminutive form of sicilis (‘sickle’), so named because of its falciformity.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’

saw, design, ship, sign, seal, sack, scarlet, sawyer, sax, shingle, scythe, sedge, sich, sain, sigil, desiccation, desiccant, 58 more

through Proto-Italic *sekaō ‘to cut’

sexuality, homosexual, dissection, 17 more

through Latin secō ‘to cut, cut off’

sex, risk, section, sexual, segment, insect, het, dissect, sickle, seg, brassica, 20 more

Today it means

noun A diacritic, resembling a 180°-rotated ‘C’ (i.e., being similar in appearance to ⟨ᵓ⟩), written atop a consonant to mark gemination, superseded in Classical Latin by doubling the letter representing the geminated consonant.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sicilicus”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin seco, Latin sicilis. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sek- / sicilicus

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