Etymologically
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militarius

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [miː.lɪˈtaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [mi.liˈtaː.ri.us][1]

Forms

mīlitārius (feminine mīlitāria, neuter mīlitārium, adverb mīlitāriē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mīles (“soldier”) + -ārius.[2][1] De Vaan finds the first part of ⟨mīles⟩ unclear and tentatively connects it with ⟨mīlia⟩ “thousands”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its source is Plautus' Pseudolus, gradus mīlitārius “a soldierly step”.[4][5][6] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

Ante-classical, it meant soldierlike, military, the same as mīlitāris.[2][4][5] The TLL considers other apparent examples, in Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, to be corruptions or false readings.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Soldierlike, military.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften