privus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpriː.wʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpriː.vus]^[1]

Forms

prīvus (feminine prīva, neuter prīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *prei-wo- (“separate, individual”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *prei-uo-.^[2] It is probably a derivative with *-u̯o- of the stem *prei- “in front, before” seen in prior and prīmus, with a shift of meaning from “standing in front” to “standing apart”.^[2][1][3]

Compare Umbrian preve (“singly”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2][5] who promises his pupils a guard each.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant one's own, private, individual, as Cato's lids belonging to each jar, and single or separate, as Lucretius' voice dividing among separate ears.^[4] Gellius notes that the old writers said priva where later Latin said singula, and Lucretius has in dies privos, “day by day”.^[6][7]

With a genitive it meant deprived of something, as in Sallust and Apuleius.^[4] It was archaic in the classical period.^[6] Its derivatives prīvō “to deprive” and prīvātus “private” gave English deprive and private in the 14th century.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the sense “one's own”.^[4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the lids of each jar.^[4][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it in the sense “single, each”.^[4][6][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it in the sense “devoid of”.^[4][5]
• late 14th century – English private comes from its derivative privatus.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. One's own, private, individual.^[4][1]
2. Single, separate; each.^[4][6]
3. (with genitive) Deprived of, devoid of.^[4][1]

Word family

• prīvō

Related words

• prior
• privatus
• English private
• English deprive

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts privus, one's own as opposed to alienus, with proprius, exclusively one's own as opposed to communis.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper