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domnus

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Forms

domnus m (genitive domnī, feminine domna); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dominus (“master, lord”), shortened by the loss of the unstressed vowel.[1][2] The TLL treats the two forms together; in manuscripts from the 4th century on the short form is common and often stands beside the full one.[2] It survives in Romanian domn, Italian donno, Spanish dueño and Portuguese dono, and a further shortened Late Latin ⟨dom⟩ gave Italian and Spanish don and French dom.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The short form is mostly found in inscriptions as an honorific title;[2] the earliest dated one the TLL lists names the emperor Valentinian II in 387.[2]

Semantic evolution

In inscriptions it is used of anyone, as when the net-fighter Cresces is called puparum domnus, “master of the girls”, but above all as a title:[2] of clergy and saints (memoria domnī Petrī et Paulī), of emperors and kings, of gods (domnus Mercurius, domnus Silvānus) and of Christ.[2] In letters and councils it served as a title of respect, as when Gregory the Great writes of the emperor's children as domnī or a church council of 626 joins dominō and domnō in one address.[2] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for lord or master.[3]

Timeline

  • 387 AD – An inscription gives the title to the emperor Valentinian II.[2]
  • 496 AD – An inscription speaks of rēgis domnī Alarīcī, “of the lord king Alaric”.[2]
  • 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great uses it in his letters of the emperor's family.[2][4]
  • 626 AD – A church council uses dominus and domnus side by side.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin) lord, master; a form of dominus.[1][3][5]
  2. (Late Latin) A title of respect for clergy, saints, emperors, kings and gods.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press