Etymologically
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rivalis

Etymology and origin of the Latin word rivalis

History
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rivalis
English rival

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [riːˈwaː.lɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [riˈvaː.lis][1]

Forms

rīvālis m (genitive rīvālis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from rīvus “brook, channel” with the suffix -ālis.[2][1] Rīvus goes back to Proto-Italic *rīwo- (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃riH-wo- (“whirling”).[3] The noun first meant someone who shares a stream or water channel with another, and the sense “rival” is thought to come from the competition of such neighbours.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Naevius onwards,[3][5] and in Plautus fathers become their sons' rivals in a brothel.[2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense of a person who shares the use of a stream or water channel appears in Aulus Gellius and the jurists, who define rivales as those who draw water through the same channel.[2][6] In comedy and elegy, however, the word meant a rival in love, someone who has the same mistress, as in Plautus' rivales sumus “we are rivals”.[2][7] Cicero and Horace use the phrase se amare sine rivali “to love oneself without a rival”.[6][8] Columella applies it to rival animals.[6]

The adjective rīvālis meant “of a brook”, as of fish in Columella.[2] English borrowed the noun as English rival in the 1570s.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[3][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of rivals in love.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero mocks a man who loves himself without a rival.[6][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it for neighbours sharing a water channel.[2][5]
  • 1570s – English borrows it as English rival.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who shares a stream or water channel with another.[2][6]
  2. A rival, especially in love.[2][7]

Adjective

  1. Of a brook (of fish).[2]

Word family

  • rīvus
  • rīvālitās
  • English rival
  • English derive

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Rivalis.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/rivalis. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on .