Etymologically
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vulgus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈwʊɫ.ɡʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvul.ɡus][1]

Forms

vulgus n sg or m sg (genitive vulgī); second declension[1] The older spelling is volgus.[2][3][4] It is usually neuter, but Accius, Lucretius, Virgil, Livy and others have the masculine accusative vulgum.[3][4]

Etymology

De Vaan says it may go back to Proto-Italic *wolgo- or *welgos-, with no further etymology.[2] The OLD and Lewis & Short compare Sanskrit वर्ग (varga, “group, division”) and Middle Breton gwalch (“abundance”);[3][4][1] Wiktionary and Köbler suggest Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to throng, press”), with Welsh gwala (“sufficiency”).[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Terence,[2] and the OLD's first quotation is Terence's vītam tuam … omniumque adeō vostrārum vulgus, “your life and that of the common run of all you women”.[3] Köbler records it in Plautus.[5]

Semantic evolution

Vulgus is “the common people, the general public”, and in vulgus “publicly” (with ēdere, to make known).[3][4] It is a particular crowd of ordinary people, usually with a slighting tone, a flock of animals (Virgil of sheep), and the members of a class as a whole.[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “multitude, common people, crowd, public”.[6] From it come the adverb vulgō (“commonly”), the verb vulgāre “to make public” and vulgāris (“common”).[2][1]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence: omniumque adeō vostrārum vulgus.[3][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius has the masculine vulgum.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a flock of sheep.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The common people, the public.[3][4][1][6]
  2. A crowd, throng, the mob.[3][1][6]
  3. A flock or herd (of animals).[3]
  4. The members of a class as a whole.[3]

Word family

  • vulgāritās
  • vulgāriter
  • vulgātē
  • vulgātor
  • vulgātus
  • plēbs
  • English vulgar

Usage notes

Lewis & Short compare plēbs and turba.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson