simplex Latin · revision 3736

15 Oct 2026, 20:10 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *sem-}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈsɪm.pɫɛks]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsim.pleks]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''simplex''' (genitive simplicis, comparative simplicior, superlative simplicissimus, adverb simpliciter); third-declension one-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[af|la|sem-|-plex|t1=one|t2=-fold]], literally “one-fold”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) The first element is the root of [[semel]] “once”, from [[ine-pro|*sem-|t=one]].^(Wiktionary)^(Georges 1913) Lewis and Short compare [[plico|alt=plicō]] “to fold”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ It is found from Plautus onwards,^(Köbler 2010) who says a town will be well enough protected by a single wall.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant single, of one layer, as a single wall or battle line, and onefold in payments.^(OLD 2012) It meant consisting of one element, simple, uncompounded, as Terence's comedy made double from a single plot and Cicero's nature of a living being that is either simple or compound.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ 
+ It meant pure and simple, free from complications, plain and unadorned, as Horace's simple pipe with few holes.^(OLD 2012) Of people it meant artless, frank or guileless, as Cicero's “what a simple man, who hides nothing from us!”.^(OLD 2012) In mathematics it meant prime.^(Wiktionary) English ''simplex'' was borrowed in the 1590s.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a single wall.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a simple plot.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a frank man.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1590s – English ''simplex'' is borrowed.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Single, of one layer.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Onefold.^(OLD 2012)
+ # [[m|en|Simple]], uncompounded.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Alone, pure and simple.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Basic, absolute.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Straightforward, uncomplicated.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Plain, unadorned.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Artless, frank, guileless, [[m|en|naive]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(mathematics)'' Prime.^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[persimplex]]
+ * [[simplicitās]]
+ * [[simplicō]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[duplex]]
+ * [[quadruplex]]
+ * [[simplicābilis]]
+ * [[simplus]]
+ * [[triplex]]
+ * [[en|simplex]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}