Etymologically
Log in

montanus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:38. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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

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