primus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpriː.mʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpriː.mus]^[1]

Forms

prīmus (feminine prīma, neuter prīmum, adverb prīmō); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *prīzmos, a superlative of the old preposition *pri, *prei, also seen in the comparative prior and in prīscus.^[1][2] The OLD reconstructs *prismo- and compares Paelignian prismu (“first (feminine)”).^[3] The preposition is perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *préy, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front”).^[1][4] Compare Oscan promom (“first”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD give Naevius first,^[4][3] with Proserpina walking at the front.^[3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was spatial: foremost, leading (prīmī pedēs the forefeet, prīmī dentēs the front teeth), the front part of something, and the outermost or extreme part.^[3] In time it meant earliest and the first part of a period, as in prīmō vēre “at the beginning of spring”.^[3] Predicatively it meant being the first to do something.^[3] In poetry it could mean eastern, belonging to the rising sun, and in philosophy it meant primary or fundamental; it also described elementary principles and things in their early stages.^[3]

Döderlein distinguishes prīmus, first in order of appearance, from prīnceps, first to act with others following his example.^[5] In medieval Latin the noun prīmus was a man of the upper class, and prīmī the great men of a realm or of the king's court.^[6] English uses the phrase primus inter pares, “first among equals”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of Proserpina walking at the front.^[3][4]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius speaks of the first figs of the season.^[3][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the primary bodies, the atoms.^[3][4]
• Middle Ages – prīmī are the great men of a realm.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Foremost, leading, at the front.^[3]
2. Outermost, extreme; the tip of.^[3][1]
3. first in time, earliest; the beginning of.^[3]
4. (predicative) The first to do or experience something.^[3]
5. (poetic) Eastern.^[3]
6. primary, fundamental; elementary.^[3]
7. Chief, principal, most excellent.^[1]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A man of the upper class, (plural) the great men of a realm.^[6]

Word family

• apprīmus
• prīmaevus
• prīmānus
• prīmās
• prīmātus
• prīmicērius
• prīmifōrmis
• prīmigenius
• prīmigenus
• prīmipara
• prīmipīlus
• primipotens

Related words

• prior
• prīnceps
• English prime
• English primary
• English prince

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com