familia

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [faˈmɪ.li.a]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [faˈmiː.li.a]^[1]

Forms

familia f (genitive familiae or familiās); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *fameliā (“household”), from an adjective “of the house”, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁-m-elo- (“foundation”), from the root *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place”).^[2][1] Rix explains famulus “servant” as a back-formation from it.^[2]

Compare Oscan famelo (“household”),^[2][3] Ancient Greek θεμέλιος (themélios, “of the foundation”) and Sanskrit धामन् (dhā́man, “dwelling place, law”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Laws of the Twelve Tables (c. 450 BC).^[2][4] In Plautus the household god is called “Lar, father of the household”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant everyone under the control of the head of a house, relatives, freedmen and slaves, and especially the slaves of a household, as Cicero's large household of craftsmen and handsome slaves.^[5] A familia was also a gang of slaves employed for a purpose, or a personal retinue.^[5][1]

It meant a family related by blood, as Plautus' “so brave a family”, and a school of philosophy, as Cicero's Peripateticorum familia.^[5] In law it was the estate.^[5] The old genitive survived in pater familias, “head of the household”.^[5][6] In Medieval Latin it was the body of serfs or dependants of a lord.^[4] English family was borrowed in the early 15th century, first meaning the servants of a household.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.^[2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a household and a family.^[5][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a gang of slaves.^[5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a school of philosophy.^[5][4]
• early 15th century – English family is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A household (relations, freedmen and slaves).^[5][1]
2. The slaves of a household, servants.^[5][1]
3. A gang of slaves; a retinue.^[5][1]
4. A family, kin.^[5][1]
5. A school (of philosophy).^[5][1]
6. (law) An estate.^[5][1]
7. (Medieval Latin) The serfs or dependants of a lord.^[4]

Word family

• familiāris
• familiola
• māterfamiliās
• familiāriter

Related words

• familiārēscō
• familiāricus
• familiāritās
• famula
• famulanter
• famulātiō
• famulātus
• famulitium
• famulō
• famulor
• English family

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com