oppidanus Latin · revision 34509

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la oppidum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɔp.pɪˈdaː.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [op.piˈdaː.nus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''oppidānus''' (feminine oppidāna, neuter oppidānum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|oppidum|-ānus|t1=town]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) For the noun [[m|la|oppidum]] de Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*op-pe/od-o-|t=obstructing]], and thinks it likely, following Walde and Hofmann, that it first meant “what is in front of the feet”, a barrier, from a root meaning “foot, step”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records the adjective first in Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who speaks of a provincial and unpolished style of speaking (''oppidano quodam et incondito genere dicendi'') and of an old man ''oppidanus'', from a country town.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The adjective describes a town other than Rome, often slightingly: as ''urbānus'' belonged to the capital, ''oppidānus'' meant provincial or small-town.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Used as a noun, chiefly in the plural, it named the inhabitants of a particular town: Caesar has the townspeople who were not to suffer harm from his soldiers by night.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) Pliny the Elder uses it for town-dwellers as against rural communities.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In Medieval Latin the noun named the inhabitant of a castle or a member of its garrison, the castellan, and the inhabitant of a rural town or of a city.^(Niermeyer 1976) Ecclesiastical dictionaries give it simply as a townsperson.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the adjective of a provincial style of speaking.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses the plural noun for the inhabitants of a town.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for town-dwellers.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 932 – Flodoard's annals use the noun.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of a country town, [[m|en|provincial]], local (as opposed to Rome).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of or belonging to a particular [[m|en|town]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An inhabitant of a particular town, a [[m|en|townsman]] (usually in the plural).^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A town-dweller, as opposed to country people.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An inhabitant of a [[m|en|castle]], a member of its [[m|en|garrison]]; a [[m|en|castellan]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An inhabitant of a rural town or of a city.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[oppidum]]

+ * [[urbānus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}