plebeius Latin · revision 34511

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [pɫeːˈbeː.jʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [pleˈbɛː.jus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''plēbēius''' (feminine plēbēia, neuter plēbēium); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|plēbs|-ius|t1=the common people]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) formed on the older stem ⟨plēbē-⟩: de Vaan lists it from Plautus on under [[m|la|plēbēs]], the earlier form of the noun.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) He reconstructs the noun as [[itc-pro|*plēþū-]], from [[ine-pro|*pléh₁-dʰ-uh₁|t=fullness]],^(de Vaan 2008) and compares [[grc|πληθύς|tr=plēthū́s|t=crowd]] and [[osc|plífriks]], an adjective like [[plebicus|alt=plēbicus]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan records it from Plautus on,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who in the ''Poenulus'' has a speaker say “though we seem to you plebeian and poor” (''quamquam nos videmur tibi plebeii et pauperes'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is of or belonging to the plebs, the plebeian order at Rome, as opposed to the patricians: Cicero speaks of plebeian families and Livy of plebeian consuls and of a plebeian Pudicitia beside the patrician one.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Livy also uses it of the ''ludi plebeii'', games given every year by the plebeian aediles, and of struggles involving the plebeians.^(OLD 2012) More generally it means belonging to the common people, as in Plautus, or suited to them, like the plebeian clothes in Lucretius.^(OLD 2012) From this it came to mean common, ordinary or vulgar: Cicero speaks scornfully of ''plebeii philosophi''.^(OLD 2012) As a noun it is a plebeian or one of the common people.^(OLD 2012) In medieval Latin it could mean lay or belonging to a parish, and as a noun a layman.^(Niermeyer 1976) English took ''plebeian'' from it in the 1560s, at first in a Roman historical sense.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of common, poor people.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of plebeian families and of “plebeian philosophers”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of plebeian consuls and of the ''ludi plebeii''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Medieval Latin – It means lay, or belonging to a parish.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ * 1560s – English borrows it as ''plebeian''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or belonging to the [[m|en|plebeian]] order at Rome, as opposed to the [[m|en|patrician|alt=patricians]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''ludī plēbēiī'': the Plebeian Games, given every year by the plebeian [[m|en|aedile|alt=aediles]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Of or belonging to the common people; suited to the common people.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # [[m|en|common|alt=Common]], ordinary, [[m|en|vulgar]], low.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|lay|alt=Lay]]; of a [[m|en|parish]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A member of the plebeian order; one of the common people.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|layman]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[patricius]]

+ * [[en|plebeian]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}