Etymologically
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paucus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpau̯.kʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaːu̯.kus][1]

Forms

paucus (feminine pauca, neuter paucum, comparative paucior, superlative paucissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pauko- (“few”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u- (“few, small”), with the suffix *-ko-.[2][1] The same root is in parvus “small”, pauper “poor” and paullus “little”.[2][3]

Cognate with Ancient Greek παῦρος (paûros, “little, few”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌹 (fawai, “few”) and Old English fēawe (“few”), the source of English few.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus onwards.[2][5] In Plautus someone is told to “put it in a few words”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It was mostly used in the plural pauci, “few”, and the singular, meaning “small in amount”, is rare.[3][6] As a noun, pauci were “few people”, often the few in power in a state, and pauca “a few words”, so paucis meant “briefly”.[3][5]

Inter paucos meant “unusually, uncommonly”.[3] It survives as Italian and Spanish poco, French peu and Portuguese pouco, and English paucity comes from its derivative paucitas.[1][7]

Timeline

  • c. 280/260 – before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses pauca of a few words.[3][5]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius contrasts the many hostile with the few well-wishers.[3][5]
  • late 14th century – English paucity comes from its derivative paucitas.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (plural) Few.[3][1]
  2. inter paucos: uncommonly, unusually.[3]
  3. (singular) Small in amount, little.[3][1]
  4. (plural) A few, some.[3]
  5. pauci (as a noun): few people; the few (in power).[3][5]
  6. pauca (as a noun): few things; a few words, paucis: briefly.[3]

Word family

  • pauca
  • paucī
  • pauciens
  • pauciloquium
  • paucitās
  • pauculus
  • perpaucus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com