Etymologically
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urbanus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ʊrˈbaː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [urˈbaː.nus][1]

Forms

urbānus (feminine urbāna, neuter urbānum, comparative urbānior, superlative urbānissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin urbs (“city”) + -ānus.[2][1][3] The origin of urbs is unclear: de Vaan reports Driessen's view that it first meant an enclosed area for taking the auspices, comparing Umbrian uerfale, and reconstructs ⟨*u(o)rbh-(i-)⟩ “enclosure”; the older comparisons with orbis (“circle”) and with roots for “enclosure” or “fortress” are rejected.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it in the Twelve Tables;[4] de Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] who has mollitia urbāna atque umbra corpus candidumst, “a body made white by city softness and the shade”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Urbānus is “of the city”, especially of Rome, as opposed to rūsticus: the legiōnēs urbānae were the reserve legions kept at Rome, and the praetor urbānus administered justice in the city.[2][5] Of people and their manners it is “having the style of the city”, refined, polished, elegant, and also “self-assured”, free of a countryman's shame, even “bold, forward”.[2][1] As a noun urbānī are the city-dwellers.[1]

Church Latin glosses it “urbane, urban, of the city”.[6] In medieval Latin it also meant “civil”, “personally free” and “of a castle”, and as a noun an inhabitant of a castle or a member of its garrison.[7] English urbane (1530s) comes from it, partly through French.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – In the Twelve Tables.[4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: mollitia urbāna.[2][3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the praetor urbānus.[2][4]
  • 1530s – English urbane.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of the city, urban (especially of Rome).[2][5][1][6]
  2. praetor urbānus, the city praetor, legiōnēs urbānae, the reserve legions at Rome.[2]
  3. Refined, polished, elegant, urbane.[2][1]
  4. Self-assured; bold, forward.[2][1]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Civil; free; of a castle.[7]

Noun

  1. A city-dweller.[1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) An inhabitant of a castle, a member of its garrison.[7]

Word family

  • anteurbanus
  • inurbānus
  • perurbānus
  • pseudourbānus
  • suburbānus
  • urbānātim
  • urbāniciānus
  • urbānicius
  • urbānitās
  • urbānē

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com