Etymologically
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privus

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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

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