Etymologically
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pagus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpaː.ɡʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.ɡus][1]

Forms

pāgus m (genitive pāgī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pāg-o- (“district”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-os, from the root of pangō “to fix, fasten”.[2][1][3] It was perhaps first a space with fixed boundaries.[4][1] Compare Ancient Greek πήγνυμι (pḗgnumi, “to fix”).[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus first.[5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a country district or rural community, as opposed to the city, and a village.[6][7] In Gaul and Germany it named a canton or district of a tribe.[7][8] It also meant the countryside and its people.[1]

In medieval Latin it was the territory of a city, its countryside, and the district of a Germanic people,[8] and in British Latin a shire or county.[9] Its derivative pāgānus “villager” gave English pagan, and Late Latin pāgēnsis gave Old French pais “country”, whence English peasant.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the word.[5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a village.[7][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a district of a Gaulish people.[7][5]
  • c. 1400 – English pagan is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A country district, rural community; a village.[6][7]
  2. A canton (in Gaul or Germany).[7]
  3. The countryside; country people.[1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The territory of a city; a county.[8][9]

Word family

  • compāgus
  • pāgānus
  • pāgānicus
  • pāgānismus
  • pāgānitās
  • pāgātim
  • pāgēnsis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com