suburbanus

Forms

suburbānus (feminine suburbāna, neuter suburbānum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- (“under, near”) + urbānus (“of the city”).^[2][1] De Vaan, following Driessen, derives urbs (“city”) from Proto-Italic *worf- and Proto-Indo-European *u(o)rbʰ- (“enclosure”), comparing Umbrian uerfale (“area for taking auspices”) and Hittite u̯arpa- (“enclosure”); on this view the city was first the enclosed space where auspices were taken.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first, in the speech for Roscius of Ameria, of a pleasant estate near the city.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is said of country estates and other places near the city, usually Rome, and of people living or plants growing there;^[2][4] Ovid uses it of a suburban grove of Diana and of a triumph held outside the city.^[2][4] As a neuter noun, suburbānum is a country seat near the city, as in Cicero's Verrines.^[2][4] In medieval texts it describes the part of a diocese outside its capital city, and as a noun an inhabitant of a suburb or of the surrounding country.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of estates near Rome.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a grove and a triumph near the city.^[2][5]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours uses it.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Situated near the city, especially Rome; suburban; of people, dwelling near the city.^[2][4][1]
2. Taking place near the city; characteristic of those living near it.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Of the part of a diocese outside its city.^[6]

Noun

1. A country seat near the city.^[2][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) An inhabitant of a suburb or of the country round a city.^[6]

Word family

• suburbānitās

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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 d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill