Etymologically
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famulus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfa.mʊ.ɫʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfaː.mu.lus][1]

Forms

famulus m (genitive famulī, feminine famula); second declension[1] Ennius and Lucretius have the nominative famul, and Virgil the genitive plural famulum.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *famelos (“slave”).[2][1] Rix explains *famelo- as a back-formation from *famelia “household”, the feminine of an adjective “basic, of the house”, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁-m-elo- (“fundament”), a diminutive of a word for “basis”.[2] Cognate with Oscan famel (“slave”) and Oscan famelo (“household”), and perhaps with Ancient Greek θεμέλια (themélia, “foundations”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it, and Ennius has the old form famul.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a servant or attendant, and a priest as servant of a god, as Cicero's servants of the Idaean Mother; in poets it was a subject or thrall.[3][5] As an adjective it meant servile or subject, as Ovid's waters of the Rhine “handed over” to Rome.[3] Döderlein counts it, with servus, as an unfree servant, against minister, who may be free.[6] Its derivative familia gave English family.[7]

In medieval Latin it was a serf, a vassal, a ministerial or squire, and Deī famulus a servant of God.[8] In Britain it was a servant or a minor royal officer.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][4]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius has the form famul.[3][4]
  • early 15th century – English family is recorded as “servants of a household”.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A servant, attendant, slave.[3][1]
  2. A servant of a god, priest.[5]
  3. A subject, thrall.[3]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A serf; a vassal; a squire.[8]

Adjective

  1. Servile; subject.[3][10]

Word family

  • confamulus
  • famulāris
  • famulitium
  • famula
  • famulitās

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press