brutus

Forms

brūtus (feminine brūta, neuter brūtum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is generally regarded as a word from a Sabellic (Osco-Umbrian) dialect, in which /gʷ/ became /b/,^[2][1] and so goes back to the same stem as gravis (“heavy”).^[2] De Vaan's reconstruction is from Proto-Italic *gʷrūto-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷrh₂-u-to- (“heavy”).^[2] In his account the PIE form changed regularly to ⟨*gʷruH-to-⟩ by metathesis, a change Schrijver ties to the accent.^[2] Livy calls the related first name ⟨Brūtulus⟩ Oscan.^[2]

Cognate with Latvian grū̃ts (“heavy”),^[2] Sanskrit गुरु (gurú, “heavy”) and Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús, “heavy”).^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius is the first to use it, in the sense “brutish, without sense”.^[2][3][4] The older meaning “heavy” is rare, found once each in Lucretius and Horace.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense “heavy, inert” survives in a few poets: Lucretius has brūtum pondus, a dead weight, and Horace brūta tellūs, the inert earth.^[3][5] The ancient grammarians, as reported in Paul the Deacon's epitome of Festus, said that the ancients used brūtum for gravem, “heavy”.^[2][6] The usual sense is mental: dull, stupid, without reason, said of people (Pacuvius calls fortune mad, blind and brūta), and in Seneca of animals, the beasts without reason;^[3][5][7] Pliny the Elder calls random thunderbolts brūta fulmina.^[3][5][7]

Christian writers also use it for what lacks sensation,^[7][8] and Medieval Latin for “stupid”.^[9] It survives in Italian as brutto and bruto,^[5] and through Old French brut it gave English brute.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it for people who are senseless.^[2][3][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it for a dead weight.^[2][3][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace calls the earth brūta tellūs.^[3][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of animals without reason.^[3][4]
• early 15th century – English brute, from Old French, is first recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Heavy, inert, immovable.^[3][6]
2. Without intelligence or feeling; stupid, irrational, brutish.^[3][6][9]
3. Of animals: without reason, brute;^[3][5][8] brūta (neuter plural), the beasts.^[3][5][8]
4. Of natural events: random, without purpose, as brūta fulmina, thunderbolts that strike by chance.^[3][5]

Word family

• brutesco
• brūtum

Related words

• gravis
• English brute

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from stupidus and bardus: brūtus is the dullness of beasts, and of people who are like them.^[11] The cognomen Brūtus of the gens Junia is the same word: according to the story, Lucius Junius Brutus, a relative of Tarquinius Superbus, saved himself by feigning stupidity, whence the name.^[6][7] Cicero puns on it in a letter: is this the fault of the Bruti? not theirs, he answers, but of other brūtī, who think themselves wise (Ad Atticum 14.14.2).^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper