primas

Forms

prīmās (genitive prīmātis); third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prīmus (“first”) + -ās;^[2][1] the TLL compares optimās.^[3] prīmus goes back to the Proto-Italic superlative *prī̆-isamo- (“first”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apuleius (c. 125–175 AD) uses it first, in the Metamorphoses: primatis civitatis filius, “the son of a leading citizen”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It was a post-Classical word for someone of the first rank,^[5][2] and as a noun named the leading men of a city or an office in the Theodosian Code.^[5] In the Church it became the title of the chief bishop of a country, the primate.^[1][7][8]

Medieval Latin used the plural for dignitaries and the leading clergy of a church, and the singular could mean a viscount or castellan.^[7] In British sources the primates are usually the king's earls and barons, and the word could even name the foremost practitioner of an art.^[9] English primate comes from Old French and directly from the Medieval Latin noun.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of people of the first rank.^[5][6]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code speaks of leading cities and officials.^[5][6]
• c. 1200 – English borrows primate for a chief bishop.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the highest rank, noble, chief.^[2][5]

Noun

1. A leading man, a person of note.^[5][7]
2. (plural) Dignitaries; the leading clergy of a church.^[7]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A primate, the chief bishop of a country.^[1][7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A viscount; with castri, a castellan.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) A magnate or baron.^[9]

Related words

• English primate

Usage notes

The TLL notes that Festus and Priscian attest the nominative primas, and that Priscian counts it among the nouns of common gender.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com