Etymologically
Log in

primus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 01:28. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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

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