purus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpuː.rʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpuː.rus]^[1]

Forms

pūrus (feminine pūra, neuter pūrum, comparative pūrior, superlative pūrissimus, adverb pūrē or pūriter); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pūro- (“pure”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂ú-ro- (“clear, cleansed”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“to cleanse”).^[2][1] Latin and Celtic share a stem *pūro- “clean”.^[2] Cognate with Old Irish úr (“green, fresh”), Sanskrit पवते (pávate, “becomes clean”) and Old High German fowen (“to sift”).^[2][3] pūtus “pure” is from the same root.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of a woman who wants her house clean.^[3][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was clean, free from dirt, pure or unmixed, as Horace's purer water.^[3][5] It was ritually clean, morally blameless and free from bloodshed, and chaste.^[3] Of the sky it was clear, of ground open and free of weeds and stones.^[3] Döderlein contrasts it, pure as opposed to defiled, with mundus, neat as opposed to dirty.^[6]

In medieval Latin it also meant mere.^[7] Through Old French pur it gave English pure, first of unalloyed gold.^[8] It survives as Italian puro, French pur and Spanish puro.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace speaks of purer water.^[5][4]
• mid-13th century – English pure is recorded of gold.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Clean, free from dirt.^[3][9]
2. Pure, unmixed.^[3][1]
3. Ritually clean.^[3]
4. Morally pure, innocent; chaste.^[3]
5. Of the sky, clear; of ground, open.^[3][1]
6. (Medieval Latin) Mere.^[7]

Word family

• impūrus
• perpurus
• purefacio
• pūrgō
• pūrificō
• purificus
• pūritās
• pūritia
• pūrō
• dēpūrō
• pūrē

Related words

• paviō
• pīus
• pūr(i)gō
• mundus
• English pure

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press