primoris Latin · revision 32466

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la prīmus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [priːˈmoː.rɪs], [priːˈmoː.riːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [priˈmɔː.ris], [priˈmɔː.ris]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''prīmōris''' (genitive prīmōris); third-declension one-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ The nominative singular is not in use; the word is mostly plural, ''prīmōrēs''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|prīmus|t=first]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) De Vaan lists it with [[m|la|prīmus]] among the derivatives of an adverb [[itc-pro|*pri|t=before]], whose superlative [[m|itc-pro|*prī̆-isamo-]] gave prīmus; he connects it with [[grc|πρίν|tr=prín|t=before]] and [[lt|priẽ|t=at, with]], but calls its Indo-European ancestry uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first, in the ''Bacchides'': “so you picked this up with the tips of two little fingers?”^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means first in position or nearest: Cato has the nearer part of the Pyrenees, Pliny the Elder front teeth, and prīmōrēs digitī are fingertips.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cato also uses it of the extremity or tip of something.^(OLD 2012) It is also first in time, as Varro's first rains, and in Lucretius elementary.^(OLD 2012) Of people it means of high rank: Turpilius has leading men as friends, and in the masculine plural the prīmōrēs are the front ranks of an army or the leading men of a state, as in Livy.^(OLD 2012) In Medieval Latin the prīmōrēs are the great men of a kingdom or the notables of a place.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of fingertips.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of the nearer part of the Pyrenees.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the leading men of a state.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # First in position, [[m|en|foremost]], nearest; the front or tip of something.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # First in time, earliest.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of people, of high rank, leading, chief.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Elementary, basic.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(in the masculine plural)'' The front ranks of an army.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(in the masculine plural)'' The leading men, [[m|en|notable|alt=notables]]; in Medieval Latin, the great men of a kingdom.^(OLD 2012)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[primus|alt=prīmus]]

+ * [[prior]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes prīmōrēs, eminent through connections, birth, power and credit, from [[princeps|alt=prīncipēs]], who lead by intellect and activity, [[proceres|alt=procerēs]], noble by natural position, and [[optimas|alt=optimātēs]], the aristocracy as a political class.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}