paganus Latin · revision 670

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [paːˈɡaː.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [paˈɡaː.nus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pāgānus''' (feminine pāgāna, neuter pāgānum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[pagus|alt=pāgus]] “country district, village” with the suffix [[m|la|-ānus]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) Festus already explains the name as taken from the country districts.^(TLL) Etymonline relates ''pāgus'' to [[pango|alt=pangere]] “to fix”, as a district marked out by boundary stones.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An inscription of 95 BC mentions a ''porticus pagana'', a portico belonging to a [[m|en|rural]] community,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) and Cicero uses ''pagani'' as a noun for the inhabitants of the low-lying districts of Rome.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The adjective meant belonging to a ''pagus'' or country community, as of a village law or rustic hearths in Ovid, and the noun meant a villager or countryman.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In imperial times it came to mean a civilian as opposed to a soldier, as often in Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, and the jurists contrast civilian and military property.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Pliny the Younger also uses it for an unlearned style.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ From the 4th century Christian writers used ''paganus'' for a heathen, one who was neither Jew nor Christian, as in Tertullian, Augustine and the Theodosian Code.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Niermeyer 1976) Orosius explains the name from the country districts, though Etymonline notes that the military sense “civilian”, as opposed to the soldiers of Christ, has also been proposed.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Etymonline) In medieval Latin it also meant a Muslim.^(Köbler 2010) English borrowed it around 1400 as [[en|pagan]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 95 BC – An inscription mentions a ''porticus pagana''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses ''pagani'' of districts of Rome.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius writes of country dishes.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it for civilians.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for heathens.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English borrows it as [[en|pagan]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of a country district or village, [[m|en|rural|alt=rural]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Civilian, as opposed to military.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Rustic, unlearned.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' [[m|en|heathen|alt=Heathen]], [[m|en|pagan]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A villager, countryman.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A civilian.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A heathen, pagan.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[compāgānus]]

+ * [[pāgānālia]]

+ * [[pāgānicus]]

+ * [[sēmipāgānus]]

+ * [[pāgānitās]]

+ * [[pāgānismus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pāgātim]]

+ * [[pāgus]]

+ * [[en|pagan]]

+ * [[en|peasant]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}