dilectus

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^[1], 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