civis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkiː.wɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃiː.vis]^[1]

Forms

cīvis m or f (genitive cīvis); third declension^[1] Old Latin wrote ceivis, as in the decree on the Bacchanalia, and the ablative is cīve or, in Plautus and often in Cicero, cīvī.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *keiwi- (“society”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱei-uo- (“friendly, intimate, dear”), an adjective of the root Proto-Indo-European *ḱei- (“to lie, settle”).^[4][1][5] Following Vine, de Vaan takes the Italic word as an abstract noun “society”, later used of a single member, which explains why cīvicus and cīvīlis mean “of the civic order” rather than “of a citizen”.^[4] Cognate with Oscan ceus (“citizen”), probably borrowed from Latin before ē became ī, with Sanskrit शिव (śivá-, “favourable”), Latvian siẽva (“wife”), Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰 (heiwafrauja, “master of the household”), Old English hīwan (“members of the household”) and Old High German hīwo (“husband”).^[4][2][6] Isidore of Seville explained citizens as those who “come together into one”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested in the Twelve Tables and then from Plautus onwards,^[4][5] and the Tables provide a protector for a proletarian citizen, and Ennius laments the fortune that crushed fierce fellow citizens.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant a fellow citizen or countryman, as in Cicero's wars “against citizens”, and a citizen in relation to the state, opposed to the foreigner (peregrinus) and the enemy (hostis).^[2][3] With a name it was a citizen of a particular city, and civis totius mundi a citizen of the world; as a term of status it was a free person, and specifically a Roman citizen (civis Romanus).^[2] Cicero also uses it of a king's subjects.^[7]

Medieval Latin used it for any inhabitant of a city, regardless of status, for the bishop's subjects in his city, for a villager or “neighbour” in a village community, and for a fellow burgess, and Köbler adds the dweller of a castle.^[8][9][5] Italian cive is a learned borrowing.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it of a proletarian citizen.^[2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of fellow citizens.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus opposes citizen and foreigner and uses it of a free person.^[2][5]
• 186 BC – The decree on the Bacchanalia spells it ceivis.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a citizen of the world and of a king's subjects.^[2][7][5]
• 786–804 – Liutger's life has a medieval sense.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fellow citizen, a countryman.^[2][3]
2. A citizen in relation to the state, as opposed to a foreigner; a citizen of a named city; a citizen of the world.^[2]
3. A free person; a Roman citizen.^[2][3]
4. A subject of a king.^[7][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) Any inhabitant of a city; a bishop's subject; a villager, a neighbour; a fellow burgess.^[8][9]

Word family

• cīvicus
• cīvīle
• cīvīlis
• cīvīlitās
• cīvīliter
• cīvitās
• cīvitātula

Related words

• English city
• English civil
• English civic

Usage notes

The word is of common gender: civis Romana is a Roman citizen woman, and Plautus has cives tuas of women.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften