plebs

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɫeːps]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈplɛbs]^[1]

Forms

plēbs f (genitive plēbis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It continues Old Latin plēbēs, ultimately from the root Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”) of plēnus “full”, though the exact development is unclear.^[1][2][3] Schrijver derives it from the same preform as Ancient Greek πληθύς (plēthús, “multitude”), with the fifth-declension form remade on the accusative, as diēs.^[1] The OLD compares Ancient Greek πλῆθος (plêthos, “crowd”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Ennius, whom he dates 204–169 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the general body of Roman citizens as distinct from the patricians, the commons, and the plebs as a legislative body, with its own tribūnus plēbis to protect its interests, as in Cicero.^[2][5] Socially it meant the common people, the masses, the mob, as in Terence and Cicero, and the rank and file, as in Ovid.^[2] The old genitive plēbī survived in tribūnus plēbī and plēbī scītum.^[2]

In Christian Latin it meant the people of God, and in the plural congregations.^[6] In Medieval Latin it meant a crowd, the legal community, a pāgus and its parish subdivision.^[7] It survives in Italian pieve “parish church”.^[1] English plebeian comes from plēbēius in the 1530s, English plebs is a borrowing, and English pleb is an 1856 shortening.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of the common people.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the plebeian order.^[2][5][4]
• 1530s – English plebeian is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The plebeian order, the commons.^[2]
2. The common people, the masses.^[2]
3. The rank and file.^[2]
4. (Christian Latin) The people of God; a congregation.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) A crowd; a rural parish district.^[7]

Word family

• plēbēcula
• plēbēius
• plēbicola
• plēbiscītum
• plēbitās
• plēbicula

Related words

• populus
• English plebeian
• English plebs

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com