regularis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [reː.ɡʊˈɫaː.rɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [re.ɡuˈlaː.ris]^[1]

Forms

rēgulāris (neuter rēgulāre, adverb rēgulāriter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin regula (“ruler, bar, rule”) + -āris.^[2][1] rēgula comes from regō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, direct”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder uses aes rēgulāre, a refined copper that can be beaten into bars.^[2][4] Köbler dates him 23/24–79 AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Pliny it meant of a bar, malleable, and Isidore of Seville repeats the term.^[4][6] The TLL notes that it is otherwise found from Tyconius on, above all in Christian writers.^[7] Caelius Aurelianus uses it of books containing rules of diet, and Cassiodorus of what is canonical.^[8][6]

In medieval Latin it meant regular, normal, and conforming to the rules of church discipline, living under a monastic rule.^[9][5] As a noun rēgulāris was a monk or canon, from 755, and a nun.^[5] English regular is recorded around 1400 for what belongs to a religious rule.^[3]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses aes rēgulāre.^[2][5]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of books of rules.^[8][5]
• 755 – Church councils use it as a noun for a monk or canon.^[5]
• c. 1400 – English regular is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a bar, aes rēgulāre malleable copper.^[2][4]
2. (Late Latin) Containing rules, serving as a rule.^[8][1]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Canonical; living under a rule.^[8][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) regular, normal.^[9]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A monk, canon; a nun.^[5]

Word family

• irrēgulāris

Related words

• rēgula
• English regular

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill