Etymologically
Log in

paganus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word paganus

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [paːˈɡaː.nʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [paˈɡaː.nus][1]

Forms

pāgānus (feminine pāgāna, neuter pāgānum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from pāgus “country district, village” with the suffix -ānus.[2][3][1] Festus already explains the name as taken from the country districts.[3] Etymonline relates pāgus to pangere “to fix”, as a district marked out by boundary stones.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An inscription of 95 BC mentions a porticus pagana, a portico belonging to a rural community,[5][2] and Cicero uses pagani as a noun for the inhabitants of the low-lying districts of Rome.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant belonging to a pagus or country community, as of a village law or rustic hearths in Ovid, and the noun meant a villager or countryman.[2][5] In imperial times it came to mean a civilian as opposed to a soldier, as often in Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, and the jurists contrast civilian and military property.[2][7] Pliny the Younger also uses it for an unlearned style.[5]

From the 4th century Christian writers used paganus for a heathen, one who was neither Jew nor Christian, as in Tertullian, Augustine and the Theodosian Code.[5][8][9] Orosius explains the name from the country districts, though Etymonline notes that the military sense “civilian”, as opposed to the soldiers of Christ, has also been proposed.[5][4] In medieval Latin it also meant a Muslim.[6] English borrowed it around 1400 as English pagan.[4]

Timeline

  • 95 BC – An inscription mentions a porticus pagana.[5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses pagani of districts of Rome.[2][6]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius writes of country dishes.[2][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it for civilians.[2][6]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for heathens.[5][6]
  • c. 1400 – English borrows it as English pagan.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a country district or village, rural.[2][5]
  2. Civilian, as opposed to military.[2]
  3. Rustic, unlearned.[5]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Heathen, pagan.[5][8]

Noun

  1. A villager, countryman.[2][5]
  2. A civilian.[2][7]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A heathen, pagan.[9][8]

Word family

  • compāgānus
  • pāgānālia
  • pāgānicus
  • sēmipāgānus
  • pāgānitās
  • pāgānismus
  • pāgātim
  • pāgus
  • English pagan
  • English peasant

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
Cite this entry

“Paganus.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/paganus. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on .