pauper

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpau̯.pɛr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaːu̯.per]^[1]

Forms

pauper (genitive pauperis, comparative pauperior, superlative pauperrimus); third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem)^[1] An old feminine paupera is used by Plautus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pau(o)-pa/oro-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u-(o-)p(o)rh₃-o- (“providing little”), a compound whose first part is found in paucus “few” and parvus “small”, and whose second is related to pariō “to produce, acquire”: one who gets little.^[4][2][5][6] It was first a second-declension adjective and moved to the third, probably after its opposite dīves “rich”.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[4][7] whose miser tells a rich neighbour, “I am a poor man, the poorest of all”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant poor, not wealthy, of someone with modest means rather than none.^[2][6] It described things belonging to the poor, as Virgil's pauper domus, and with a genitive “poor in”, as Horace's Daunus “poor in water”.^[2] Of land and resources it meant meagre, as Virgil's pauper agellus “poor little field”.^[2]

As a noun it meant a poor man, as in Ovid,^[7] and Medieval Latin also used it for a monk.^[7] It survives as Italian povero, French pauvre and Spanish and Portuguese pobre.^[1] English poor came from Old French about 1200, and pauper was taken from Latin in the 1510s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a poor man.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a poor house and a poor field.^[2][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it with a genitive, “poor in water”.^[2][7]
• c. 1200 – English poor is first recorded.^[8]
• 1510s – English pauper is first recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Poor, not wealthy.^[2][3]
2. Of the poor, humble.^[2]
3. (with genitive) Poor (in).^[2]
4. (of land, resources) Meagre, unproductive.^[2][1]

Noun

1. A poor man.^[7][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) A monk.^[7]

Word family

• compauper
• pauperculus
• pauperiēs
• pauperō
• paupertās
• paupertīnus
• perpauper
• pauperium

Related words

• parvus
• paucus
• dīves
• English poor
• English pauper
• English poverty

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ 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