‖ hyle Obs.
(ˈhaɪliː)
Also 4–5 yle, 6 hile, (7 hyla).
[med.L. hȳlē, a. Gr. ὕλη wood, timber, material, by Aristotle and in later Gr. ‘matter’.]
Matter, substance; the first matter of the universe.
| [1390 Gower Conf. III. 91 That matere universall, Which hight Ylem in speciall.] c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. (E.E.T.S.) 94 Of þe saule commys anoþer substance, þat ys clepyd þe yle. 1569 J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 70 b, Of the undiuisible partes, of Hile, of matiers. 1619 Purchas Microcosm. lviii. 564 Vncreated Chaos, or Hyla, or first Matter. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 118 This hyle or matter..is indeed nothing else but the soul's potentiality. a 1687 H. More App. to De Philos. Cabbal. viii. (1713) 182 That Hyle or first Matter is mere Possibility of Being, according to Aristotle. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) I. 464 Jove produced the two first numbers, the mundane soul and hyle: he made hyle inert and stupid, but to the mundane soul he gave activity and understanding. |