patruus Latin · revision 8271
16 Oct 2026, 15:46 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *ph₂tr̥wyos}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈpa.tru.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.tru.us]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''patruus''' ''m'' (genitive patruī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[inh|ine-pro|*ph₂tr̥wyos|t=paternal uncle]], from the word for “father”, Latin [[pater]].^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012) Cognate with [[sa|पितृव्य|tr=pitṛvya|t=paternal uncle]] and [[gem-pro|*fadurwijô|t=paternal uncle]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010) Plautus has ''patrue mī patruissime'' “uncle, uncliest of uncles”.^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant a father's brother, a paternal uncle, as opposed to [[avunculus]], the mother's brother.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Uncles were proverbially harsh and censorious, as in Cicero and Horace's ''patruae verbera linguae'' “the lashes of an uncle's tongue”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The jurists named a great-uncle ''patruus magnus'', a great-great-uncle ''patruus maior'', and further ''patruus maximus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant an uncle.^(Stelten 1995) Niermeyer records Medieval Latin uses of it for a mother's brother.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(Köbler 2010)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a harsh uncle.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 533 AD – The Digest defines ''patruus magnus'', ''maior'' and ''maximus''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A paternal [[m|en|uncle]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # A stern critic.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A maternal uncle.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Of a paternal uncle.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[abpatruus]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[pater]]
+ * [[patruēlis]]
+ * [[avunculus]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}