puer

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpu.ɛr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpuː.er]^[1]

Forms

puer m (genitive puerī, feminine puera); second declension^[1] Plautus and Caecilius also have puerus, and the old vocative is puere.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *puwero-, and de Vaan derives it from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂u-ero- (“smaller”), from the root of paucus “few”, or from a more recent Italic formation on the same root, “small, young”.^[2] The Oxford Latin Dictionary compares Oscan puklum and Sanskrit पोत (pota-).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus uses it, and its feminine puera “girl”.^[2] Köbler dates Livius Andronicus 280/260–before 200 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Thesaurus thinks the oldest sense was a child of either sex; the word was later limited to boys, and puella was used for girls.^[6] Naevius calls Proserpina “Ceres' child” (puer).^[7] In Classical Latin it was a boy, a son, a boy favourite, in the plural children, and a young slave or servant, as Plautus' puere, cape chlamydem “boy, take the cloak”.^[3]

In medieval Latin it was a servant, a slave, an armed retainer and a vassal, and puer rēgis was a royal agent.^[8] In England the puer episcopus was the boy bishop of the season from Saint Nicholas' Day to Holy Innocents'.^[9] English puerile comes from puerīlis.^[10]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a young slave.^[3][5]
• 1660s – English puerile is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boy; a child.^[3][4]
2. A son.^[3]
3. In the plural, children.^[3]
4. A young slave, servant.^[3][1]
5. A boy favourite.^[3]
6. (Medieval Latin) A retainer; a vassal, puer rēgis, a royal agent.^[8]

Word family

• puera
• puerārius
• puerāscō
• pueraster
• puerculus
• puerigenus
• puerīlis
• puerīlitās
• puerīliter
• puerīnus
• pueritia

Related words

• puerperium
• paucus
• pūbēs
• puella
• English puerile

Usage notes

Isidore derived it from pūritās “purity”, because the boy is pure and does not yet have a beard.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).