Unknown according to De Vaan (2008). May be connected toāla(“wing”), on the image of the garlic bulb being divided into "wings"; for a similar derivation from garlic being "cloven" cf. the etymology of GermanKnoblauch(“garlic”). It has also been compared with the Greek gloss ofἄλλην(állēn) as 'vegetables' "among the Italians", which may stem from another Italic language, and if so, has no direct bearing on the etymological consideration of Latinālium.[1]
Based only on the formallium, Kroonen (2012) suggests that it may be a borrowing from the root ofAncient Greekἄγλις(áglis), specifically via a byform*adlī-. See the Ancient Greek entry for more.[2] This assumption ofProto-Italic*alljom agrees withAncient Greekἀλλᾶς(allâs,“sausage”) (pluralἀλλᾶντες(allântes)), which could reflect earlier*αλλᾱϝεντ-(*allāwent-,“sausage seasoned with garlic”), a derivation from the Italic stem*all- with Proto-Hellenic*-wénts (though this suffix is regularly reflected in Greek as-(ϝ)εις(-(w)eis)).
^De Vaan, Michiel (2008),Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN
^Kroonen, Guus (2012), “An Akkadian loanword in Pre-Greek: on the etymology of Greek ἄγλις and γέλγις 'garlic'”, inThe Journal of Indo-European Studies[1], volume40, page295
^Roberts, Edward A. (2014),A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation,→ISBN, p. 725
“alium”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879),A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“alium”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891),An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"alium", 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)
Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894),Latin Phrase-Book[2], London:Macmillan and Co.
(ambiguous) he is a young man of great promise:adulescens alios bene de se sperare iubet, bonam spem ostendit oralii de adulescente bene sperare possunt
“alium”, inWilliam Smith, editor (1854, 1857),A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
