publicanus

Forms

pūblicānus m (genitive pūblicānī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from pūblicus (“public”) with the suffix -ānus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains ⟨pūblicus⟩ as originally ⟨*popliko-⟩, from populus (“people”), with ⟨ū⟩ taken from pūbēs (“adult population”); ⟨populus⟩ goes back to Proto-Italic *poplo- (“army”), whose origin is unknown.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Plautus' Truculentus, where people “blame the tax farmers”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it is “of the public revenue”, as Cicero's muliercula pūblicāna, the wife of a tax farmer, said with contempt.^[5] As a noun it is a contractor for public works and supplies, and above all for collecting taxes and dues, a tax farmer or publican, as Cicero's pūblicānī of Asia.^[2][5]

Church Latin glosses it “publican, tax collector, sinner”.^[6][1] In medieval Latin it was also a court beadle, and by confusion a Paulician heretic.^[7][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of tax farmers.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the publicans' wife.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A contractor for public works or supplies.^[2]
2. A tax farmer, publican, tax collector.^[2][1][5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A publican; a sinner.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A court beadle; a Paulician.^[7][1]

Adjective

1. Of the public revenue or its farming.^[5][1]

Word family

• pūblicāna

Related words

• pūblicus
• populus
• portitor
• English publican

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill