Etymologically
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regularis

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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

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