Etymologically
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pauci

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpau̯.kiː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaːu̯.t͡ʃi][1]

Forms

paucī m pl (genitive paucōrum); second declension[1] Ennius has the genitive plural paucum, and the feminine ablative plural paucābus is in a fragment of the historian Gellius.[2]

Etymology

It is the masculine plural of paucus (“few, little”), used as a noun.[1][3][2] paucus is inherited from Proto-Italic *pauko- (“few”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u- (“few, small”);[4][1] the same stem with other suffixes is in parvus and pauper.[4]

Cognate with Ancient Greek παῦρος (paûros, “little”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌹 (fawai, “few”) and Old English fēa (“few”).[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates paucus from Livius Andronicus.[5] As a noun paucī is in Accius: multī inīquī atque īnfidēlēs rēgnō, paucī benevolī, “many hostile and disloyal to the throne, few well disposed”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Paucī is “few”, “only a small number of people”, and “a select few” (Terence: nōlīte sinere … artem mūsicam recidere ad paucōs, “do not let the art of music fall back to a few”).[2][3] It is also a small but indefinite number from a group, “a few” (paucīs interfectīs, “a few having been killed”), and in politics the few who rule, the oligarchs.[2][1] As an adjective it means “few, too few”;[2] inter paucōs with an adjective is “uncommonly”.[2] The neuter plural pauca is “a few things” and “a few words”, and paucīs “in a few words, briefly”.[2][6]

Church Latin glosses it “few”, and paucīs “in a few words”.[6]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses paucus.[5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: tū pauca in verba cōnfer, “put it in a few words”.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: ad paucōs.[2][5]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius: paucī benevolī.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. few (people), a small number.[2][3][1][6]
  2. A select few.[2]
  3. A few (of a group).[2]
  4. The few who rule, the oligarchs.[1]

Adjective

  1. Few; too few.[2][6]
  2. inter paucōs: uncommonly, unusually.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson