montanus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [mɔnˈtaː.nʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [monˈtaː.nus]^[1]

Forms

montānus (feminine montāna, neuter montānum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mōns (“mountain”) + -ānus.^[2][1] Mōns is *monti-, from Proto-Indo-European *mon-ti- (“protrusion, height”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Lucilius (c. 180–102 BC).^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant of the mountains, as Varro's mountain land and Virgil's mountain stream, and mountainous, as Livy's loca montana.^[5][6] As a noun it meant a mountain-dweller, as Caesar's mountaineers, and in the plural the inhabitants of the seven hills of Rome.^[2][6]

Quintilian contrasts montanus and planus places.^[5] Montanus was also a Roman name, borne by the poet Julius Montanus and the orator Votienus Montanus.^[2] In medieval Latin a montanus was a hermit.^[7] English mountain comes from Vulgar Latin *montanea through Old French, and montane is a learned borrowing.^[8][1]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of mountain land.^[5][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of mountaineers.^[6][4]
• c. 1200 – English mountain is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the mountains, mountain-; mountainous.^[2][1]
2. Living in the mountains.^[1]

Noun

1. A mountain-dweller, (plural) the people of the hills of Rome.^[2]
2. (Medieval Latin) A hermit.^[7]

Word family

• montāna
• montaniculus
• montāniōsus
• trānsmontānus
• cismontānus
• montānia
• submontānus
• rēgiomontānus

Related words

• monticola
• mons
• English mountain
• English montane

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com