campus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkam.pʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkam.pus]^[1]

Forms

campus m (genitive campī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kampo- (“field”), of uncertain further origin.^[2][1][3] It is traditionally linked with words for bending, such as Lithuanian kam̃pas (“corner”) and Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ, “bend”), but the Latin ⟨ca-⟩ is hard to explain.^[2][1][4] De Vaan notes that Beekes takes the Greek words to come from a substrate, and suggests that this may be a European substrate word from farming.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus onwards,^[2] who writes of crowds that “flood the whole plain”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a plain or level field, as in Caesar's view from the town down to the plain.^[3][5] Campus alone was the Campus Martius at Rome, where assemblies, elections and exercise took place, and so a field for sport, as when Cicero went down to the Campus to play ball.^[3] It was also a battlefield, as in Ennius, and figuratively a field of action or scope, as Cicero's “fortune gave us no field in which our courage could show itself”.^[3] Poets used it for the expanse of the sea.^[3]

Medieval Latin used it for the lists of a judicial duel, a battle and an army camp,^[6] and New Latin for the grounds of a university.^[1] It survives as Romanian câmp, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese campo and French champ.^[1] English camp came through Italian in the 1520s, and campus was used of college grounds from 1774.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for plains and for the sea.^[3][8]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it for a battlefield.^[3][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for the Campus Martius and for a field of action.^[3][8]
• 1520s – English camp is first recorded.^[7]
• 1774 – English campus is used of college grounds.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plain, level field.^[3][9]
2. The Campus Martius.^[3][1]
3. A field for sport, exercise.^[3]
4. A battlefield.^[3]
5. A field of action, scope; an opportunity.^[3][1]
6. (poetic) The expanse of the sea.^[3]
7. (Medieval Latin) A judicial duel; a battle; a camp.^[6]
8. (New Latin) A campus.^[1]

Word family

• Campensis
• campicellum
• campicursio
• campidoctor
• campagus
• campāna
• campāneus
• campānius
• campester
• campiō

Related words

• English camp
• English campus
• English champion
• English campaign

Usage notes

A different campus, from Greek Ancient Greek κάμπος (kámpos), is a sea creature, as in Martial's campi marini.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn