Etymologically
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patruus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpa.tru.ʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.tru.us][1]

Forms

patruus m (genitive patruī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tr̥wyos (“paternal uncle”), from the word for “father”, Latin pater.[1][2] Cognate with Sanskrit पितृव्य (pitṛvya, “paternal uncle”) and Proto-Germanic *fadurwijô (“paternal uncle”).[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC.[4] Plautus has patrue mī patruissime “uncle, uncliest of uncles”.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a father's brother, a paternal uncle, as opposed to avunculus, the mother's brother.[2][3] Uncles were proverbially harsh and censorious, as in Cicero and Horace's patruae verbera linguae “the lashes of an uncle's tongue”.[2][3] The jurists named a great-uncle patruus magnus, a great-great-uncle patruus maior, and further patruus maximus.[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant an uncle.[6] Niermeyer records Medieval Latin uses of it for a mother's brother.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[4][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a harsh uncle.[2][4]
  • 533 AD – The Digest defines patruus magnus, maior and maximus.[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A paternal uncle.[2]
  2. A stern critic.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A maternal uncle.[7]

Adjective

  1. Of a paternal uncle.[2]

Word family

  • abpatruus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill