Etymologically
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pauperculus

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Forms

pauperculus (feminine paupercula, neuter pauperculum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin pauper (“poor”) + -culus, a diminutive.[1][3] De Vaan traces the base to Proto-Italic *pau(o)-pa/oro- and further to Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u-(o-)p(o)rh₃-o- (“providing little”); it was originally an adjective of the second declension, which probably went over to the third after its opposite dīves “rich”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler find it from Plautus on.[4][5] In the Persa a speaker says rēs nostrae sunt … pauperculae, “our means are slender”.[1][6]

Semantic evolution

It means poor, usually with a note of pity or affection,[1] and was used of people: a poor old man in Plautus, an old woman in Terence, a mother in Horace.[2][6] Lewis and Short note that Cicero does not use it.[2] Varro speaks of most poor freemen as pauperculī, and the masculine plural came to stand for “the poor”.[6] It was also said of things, such as possessions or a dwelling.[1][6]

The Vulgate uses it of the poor widow who gives her two coins.[2] British medieval writers apply it to poor people, to those who chose poverty for religious reasons, and to Christ.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a poor old man and of slender means.[2][1][5]
  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius speaks of a poor little hut.[1][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of an old woman.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses the masculine plural for poor freemen.[6][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a mother.[2][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate calls the widow of Luke 21:2 vidua paupercula.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Poor, needy, often with pity or affection.[1][2]
  2. Of possessions or a dwelling: Meagre, humble.[1][6]
  3. (masculine plural as a noun) The poor.[6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Poor by choice, in religious poverty.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ 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