pluralis

Forms

plūrālis (neuter plūrāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] As a noun: plūrālis m (genitive plūrālis); third declension.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin plūs (“more”) + -ālis.^[2][1] plūs goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁-ios-, the comparative of *pl̥h₁-u- (“much, many”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro, meaning “of more than one”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

L&S counts it as post-Augustan; it was above all a term of grammar, the plural number as against the singular.^[5][2] Quintilian speaks of the singular and plural numbers in Latin,^[2] and the TLL finds it in Paulus' epitome of Festus, then from Pliny the Elder on, chiefly in the grammarians.^[6]

In legal Latin it could mean consisting of more than one: the Digest speaks of a plural expression for witnesses being satisfied by two.^[2][5] Church writers used it in discussions of the divine nature.^[6] As a noun it is short for numerus pluralis, the plural.^[1] English borrowed it in the late 14th century, first in grammar, from Old French and directly from Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – First attested in Varro.^[3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.^[6][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian contrasts the singular and plural numbers.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as plural, first as a term of grammar.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to more than one; consisting of more than one.^[2][5]
2. (grammar) Plural.^[5][1]

Noun

1. (grammar) The plural number (short for numerus pluralis).^[1]

Word family

• plūrālitās

Related words

• plūrāliter
• plūrātīvus
• singularis
• English plural

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d 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 c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com