Vulgate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin Vulgata,^[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin vulgāta (“common, general, popular”),^[2][3][5] short for vulgāta ēditiō (“popular edition”), which the OED finds in Jerome and Augustine in the 4th and 5th centuries.^[6][7] This is the feminine past participle of Latin vulgō (“to make common or public”),^[2][3][6] from vulgus (“the common people”).^[2][3][6][8] The English adjective is from the masculine vulgātus (“common, ordinary, well-known”).^[6][7] De Vaan, cited by Etymonline, offers no further etymology for vulgus.^[3] The OED compares French Vulgate (1666), Italian Vulgata (before 1585), Spanish Vulgata (1646) and Portuguese Vulgata (1626 or earlier).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Widely known, familiar: before 1522, in G. Douglas's translation of the Aeneid, a use the OED enters separately from the Bible sense.^[6] The word is first applied to a translation of the Bible in 1557, in R. Edgeworth's sermons.^[6]

Semantic evolution

According to Merriam-Webster Unabridged, the Late Latin phrase first named the Septuagint and its Latin translation.^[4] The OED records the English word for the Latin versions earlier than Jerome's from 1723, usually with a distinguishing word.^[6] Etymonline explains the name by the way the translations put the book within reach of the common people of ancient Rome,^[3] and the Oxford Dictionary of English glosses the phrase "(edition) prepared for the public".^[8] Collins says that Jerome's 4th-century version has borne the name since the 13th century.^[9] Etymonline dates its completion to 405.^[3] The version that the Roman Catholic Church uses was revised and promulgated by Pope Clement VIII in 1592.^[6][4] From this name for an accepted Bible text the word spread to any standard text of a literary work: as an adjective from 1732, and as a noun from 1855.^[6][4] Another line kept closer to the Latin sense of "common": the speech of ordinary people from 1782, with an adjective from 1862 for what has been made vulgar or colloquial.^[6] A verb "to popularize" also appears, about 1532 in the OED, and the Shorter Oxford calls it rare.^[6][7] Compare vulgarize.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1522 – adjective, widely known, familiar (obsolete by 1782).^[6]
• c. 1532 – verb, to make common or popular.^[6]
• 1557 – adjective, designating a Bible translation in common use, especially Jerome's.^[6] Barnhart's first record is of 1609, in the Douay Bible.^[2]
• 1614 – noun, the Latin Bible prepared mainly by Jerome.^[6] Etymonline dates it to about 1600,^[3] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1728.^[4]
• 1723 – noun, the Latin translations of the Bible made before Jerome's.^[6]
• 1732 – adjective, of the standard version of a literary work.^[6]
• 1743 – noun, an edition or copy of Jerome's Latin Bible.^[6]
• 1752 – noun, with a distinguishing word, the standard Bible in a given language.^[6]
• 1782 – noun, the speech of ordinary people.^[6]
• 1855 – noun, the standard version of a literary work.^[6]
• 1862 – adjective, vulgarized, colloquial.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The Latin version of the Bible prepared mainly by Jerome in the late 4th century, especially as revised in 1592 and used by the Roman Catholic Church.^[6][9][4]
2. An edition or copy of this version.^[6][4]
3. Usually lowercase: the commonly accepted text of an author's work: the vulgate of the poem.^[4][6][9]
4. Usually lowercase: everyday, informal speech; the vernacular: a novelist with a good ear for the vulgate.^[4][6][9]
5. Lowercase: speech regarded as substandard.^[4]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the Latin Bible of Jerome: the Vulgate text.^[6][9]
2. Lowercase: forming the standard or accepted version of a text; generally accepted.^[6][9]
3. Lowercase: made common or unsophisticated; colloquial.^[6]
4. (obsolete, before 1522–1782) Lowercase: in general use, familiar.^[6][7]

Verb

1. (rare) Lowercase: to put into general circulation; to popularize.^[6][7]

Related words

• vulgar
• vulgarize
• vulgus
• divulge

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins