metropolitanus

Forms

mētropolītānus (feminine mētropolītāna, neuter mētropolītānum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mētropolis (“chief city of a province”),^[1][2][3][4] which is from Ancient Greek μητρόπολις (mētrópolis, “a mother city or state”).^[1][5] Isidore of Seville, in some manuscripts, says that metropolitan bishops are named from the measure of cities.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ambrose uses it of a man from the chief city of the province, subject to the bishop of Bologna.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin used it of the chief city of a province, urbs metropolitana being a metropolis,^[3][6] and of its rights and dignity.^[3] In the Church it described the see and the bishop of such a city,^[3][6] and as a noun it meant the metropolitan bishop himself, an archbishop.^[3][2][7] In Medieval Latin the feminine metropolitana was a metropolitan church.^[6] English took it over, first of the bishop.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of a man from the chief city.^[3][4]
• c. 345–411/412 AD – Rufinus speaks of the authority of a metropolitan bishop.^[3][4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it as a noun, “metropolitan bishop”.^[3][4]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it of a metropolitan city.^[3][4]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses the noun of a bishop.^[2][4]
• mid-14th century – English borrows it as metropolitan, a bishop.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the chief city of a province, metropolitan.^[3][2][6]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Of a metropolitan see or bishop.^[3][6][7]

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A metropolitan bishop, an archbishop.^[3][2][7]
2. (Medieval Latin, feminine) A metropolitan church.^[6]

Usage notes

A separate adjective Metropolitanus, “of the town of Metropolis”, is in Livy.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson