follis

English

Etymology

From Latin follis (“a bag”). Doublet of fool.

Noun

follis (plural folles)

1. (numismatics) A large bronze coin minted during the Roman Empire.
   • 1996, Kenneth W. Harl, Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 b.c. to a.d. 700, Baltimore, Md., London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 199:

     In Italy, the exarchs at Ravenna preserved the denominational structure of the currency, striking the bronze folles along with fractions and three silver denominations marked as pieces of 125, 150, and 500 nummiae (pl. 23.200). The solidus was officially exchanged at 300 folles (= 12,000 nummiae) or the rate that had obtained under Theodoric.

   • 2016, Pavla Drápelová, “Province in Contrast to City: Irregularities and Peculiarities in the Coinage of Antioch (518–565)”, in Nicholas S. M. Matheou, Theofili Kampianaki, Lorenzo M. Bondioli, editors, From Constantinople to the Frontier: The City and the Cities, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, part 4 (The Cities), page 180:

     In the beginning, Antioch followed the weight policy of Constantinopolitan coins, but after a break in minting in 540/541–541/542 caused by the sack of the city by the Persians, the mint of Antioch continued to issue bronze folles of high weight standard, ever if the weight in Constantinople was already reduced by that period.

   • 2022, Vladimir Penchev, “What the coins from the Preslav treasure can tell us about the social status of its owner”, in Contributions to Bulgarian Archaeology, volume XII, →DOI, →ISSN, page 70:

     The silver miliarensia from that era were minted exclusively for propaganda purposes, and in smaller amounts than the gold coins (nomismas) and the copper alloy coins (folles). They were practically not used in circulation, although in theory twelve miliarensia were equal in value to a gold nomisma.

Anagrams

• fillos

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈfo.ʎis]

Verb

follis

1. second-person singular present subjunctive of follar

Latin

Etymology

Probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰolǵʰ-n-is, o-grade i-stem derivative of *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell”) with an *-n- suffix (though De Vaan is skeptical of any etymology and leaves the origin open). Cognates include Sanskrit बर्हिस् (barhís, “straw, sacrificial straw”), Old English belġ (“bulge, bag, purse”) (English belly) and belġan (“to swell with anger”), Old Prussian balsinis (“cushion”) and Old Irish bolg (“belly; bag; bellows”).

Or simply from Proto-Indo-European *bʰol-n-is, ultimately from the same root, i.e. *bʰel- (“to blow”), from which *bʰelǵʰ- appears to be derived.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfol.lis/, [ˈfɔlːʲɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfol.lis/, [ˈfɔlːis]

Noun

follis m (genitive follis); third declension

1. bellows
2. purse, sack, money bag
3. (by extension) a small value coin
4. an inflated ball
5. paunch, belly
6. (poetic) puffed cheeks

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	follis	follēs
Genitive	follis	follium
Dative	follī	follibus
Accusative	follem	follēs follīs
Ablative	folle	follibus
Vocative	follis	follēs

Derived terms

• folleātus
• folleō
• follicō
• folliculus
• folligena
• follis volātilis (New Latin)
• follītim

 

Descendants

• Eastern Romance
  • Aromanian: foali
  • Istro-Romanian: foie
  • Megleno-Romanian: foali
  • Romanian: foale
• Italo-Romance
  • Italian: folle
  • Sicilian: foḍḍi
• Old French: fol (see there for further descendants)
  • French: fou
  • Norman: fo
• Old Occitan: fol
  • Occitan: hòu, fòl, fòu
• Sardinian: fodhe
• Venetan: folo, foło, fol
• West Iberian
  • Asturian: fuelle
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: fol
    • Portuguese: fole
  • Spanish: follar, hollar, fuelle
• → Alemannic German: Folle
• → Proto-Brythonic: *foll
  • Middle Welsh: ffoll
• → Ancient Greek: φόλλις (phóllis)
  • → Aramaic: ܦܘܠܣܐ / פולסא /ܦܠܣ / פילס (fuləsā, filas)
    • → Arabic: فِلْس (fils) (see there for further descendants)
• → English: follis

References

• “follis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “follis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• follis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• follis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “follis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “follis”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin