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plerique

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word plerique

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 235–200 BC, Naevius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*pleh₁-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɫeːˈriː.kʷɛ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pleˈriː.kʷe][1]

Forms

plērīque m pl (genitive plērōrumque or plērōrunque); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the masculine plural of plērusque (“most”), used as a noun.[1][2] plērusque is formed from Latin plērus (“most”) + -que;[2][1] plērus, an early form of it, is related to plēnus (“full”) and goes back to Proto-Italic *plēros and Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”).[3][1] Compare Ancient Greek πλήρης (plḗrēs, “full”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has plērīque omnēs subiguntur sub ūnum iūdicium, “nearly all are brought under one judgement”.[2] Plautus has habent hunc mōrem plērīque argentāriī, “most bankers have this habit”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Plērīque is “most, the greater number”, with a noun or alone (Cicero: lautumiās Syrācūsānās … plērīque nōstis, “most of you know the quarries of Syracuse”).[2][1] Plērīque omnēs is “nearly all”.[2] Of people in general it is “most people, the majority” (Terence: sorōrem plērīque esse crēdēbant meam, “most people believed she was my sister”).[2][1] From Quintilian and Tacitus on it can also mean simply “very many”.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “very many, the majority”.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius: plērīque omnēs.[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: plērīque argentāriī.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: sorōrem plērīque esse crēdēbant meam.[2][5]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for “very many”.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Most (of them), the greater number.[2][1]
  2. Most people, the majority.[2][1][4]

Adjective

  1. Most, the greater part of.[2]
  2. plērīque omnēs: nearly all.[2]
  3. Very many.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Plerique.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/plerique. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·