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complures

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word complures

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*pleh₁-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔmˈpɫuː.reːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [komˈpluː.res][1]

Forms

complūrēs (neuter complūra or complūria, adverb complūriēns or complūriēs); third-declension one-termination determiner (non-i-stem) or third-declension two-termination determiner, plural only[1] The neuter is complūra or complūria (Terence, Cato, Cicero), a choice Gellius discusses.[2][3] It is also spelled conplūrēs.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + plūrēs (“more”).[2][4][1][5] plūrēs is the plural of plūs, which de Vaan traces to the comparative ⟨*pleh₁-ios-⟩ of Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill; much”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Complūrēs means “a fair number, several, quite a few”, more than one but not many, and sometimes “very many”.[2][3][1] It is used as an adjective and, without a noun, for “several people” or “several things”.[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “several”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[6][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence has the neuter complūria.[2][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius discusses complūra and complūria.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Several, a fair number of, quite a few.[2][3][1][7]

Pronoun

  1. Several people, several things.[3][1]

Word family

  • complūriēns
  • plūs
  • plūrēs
  • complūsculī

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Complures.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/complures. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·