planus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɫaː.nʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈplaː.nus]^[1]

Forms

plānus (feminine plāna, neuter plānum, comparative planior, superlative planissimus, adverb plānē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *plāno-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂-nó- (“flattened”), from the root *pleh₂- (“flat”).^[2][1]

Cognate with Hittite palhi- (“wide, broad”), Old Prussian plonis (“threshing floor”), Lithuanian plónas (“thin”) and Latvian plãns (“flat, even, thin”).^[2] The OLD also compares English floor.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2][4] who speaks of an easy and level road, facilis et plana via.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It described level ground and calm water, a house on ground level, and anything flat, so that plana manu was “with the flat of the hand” and piscis planus a flatfish.^[3] Cicero used it in geometry, naming the circle the finest of plane figures.^[3]

Of speech it meant plain and straightforward, and more often clear or obvious: planum facere was to make something clear or prove it.^[3] Medieval Latin used it for land that was not wooded, in the phrase in bosco et plano, “in woods and fields”,^[6] and in music for a chant in a low register.^[7] It survives as Italian piano, Old French plain, Spanish llano and Portuguese chão.^[1] English plain came from Old French about 1300, and plane was taken from Latin planum about 1600.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a level road.^[5][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a flat surface.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of plane figures in geometry.^[3][4]
• c. 1300 – English plain is borrowed from Old French.^[8]
• c. 1600 – English plane “flat surface” is taken from Latin.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Level, flat, even, (of water) calm.^[3][5]
2. On ground level.^[3]
3. Having a flat surface, plana manu with the flat of the hand.^[3]
4. (geometry) plane, two-dimensional.^[3]
5. (of speech) Plain, simple.^[3]
6. Clear, obvious, planum facere to make clear, prove.^[3][1]
7. (Medieval Latin) Not wooded, open.^[6]

Word family

• planaris
• plānārius
• implanus
• perplānus
• plāna
• plāniloquus
• plānipēs
• plānitās
• plānitia
• plānitiēs
• planitudo
• plānum

Related words

• palma
• planta
• English plain
• English plane
• English explain

Usage notes

A different word, planus with a short a, from Greek Ancient Greek πλάνος (plános), meant a vagabond or impostor, a word Cicero and Horace use.^[3][5][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com