commune

See also: Commune

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English commune, comune, from Old French comune, commune, from Medieval Latin commūnia, from Latin commūne (“community, state”), from commūnis (“common”). See also community, communion, common.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏm'yo͞on, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmjuːn/
• (US) enPR: käm'yo͞on, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmjuːn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

commune (countable and uncountable, plural communes)

1. A small community, often rural, whose members share in the ownership of property, and in the division of labour; the members of such a community.
2. A local political division in many European countries.
3. (obsolete) The commonalty; the common people.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

4. (uncountable, obsolete) communion; sympathetic intercourse or conversation between friends
   • 1849, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, OCLC 3968433, (please specify |part=prologue or epilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX):

     For days of happy commune dead.

Translations

small community, often rural, whose members share in the ownership of property, and in the division of labour; the members of such a community

• Arabic: مَشَاعِيَّة‎ f (mašāʿiyya)
• Armenian: համայնք (hy) (hamaynkʿ)
• Bulgarian: кому́на f (komúna)
• Finnish: kommuuni (fi)
• Greek: κοινόβιο (el) n (koinóvio)
• Hebrew: קבוצה \ קְבוּצָה‎ (he) f (kvutsá), קיבוץ \ קִבּוּץ‎ (he) m (kibúts)

• Ido: komono (io)
• Indonesian: komune (id)
• Khmer: ឃុំ (km) (khum), សង្កាត់ (km) (sɑngkat)
• Russian: общи́на (ru) f (obščína)
• Spanish: comuna (es) f
• Swedish: byalag

local political division in many European countries

• Armenian: կոմունա (hy) (komuna)
• Bulgarian: община́ f (obštiná)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 市镇 (si⁵ zan³)

  Mandarin: 市镇 (zh) (shìzhèn), 市镇 (zh) (shìzhèn)

• Corsican: cumune m, cumuna f
• Czech: obec (cs) f
• Danish: kommune (da) c
• Finnish: kunta (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: comena
• French: commune (fr) f
• German: Gemeinde (de) f, Kommune (de) f

• Greek: κοινότητα (el) f (koinótita)
• Indonesian: komune (id)
• Italian: comune (it) m, comuna f
• Khmer: សង្កាត់ (km) (sɑngkat), ឃុំ (km) (khum)
• Macedonian: општина f (opština)
• Occitan: comuna f
• Polish: gmina (pl) f
• Russian: комму́на (ru) f (kommúna), общи́на (ru) f (obščína)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏пћина f

  Roman: ȍpćina (sh) f

• Slovak: obec (sk) f
• Spanish: comuna (es) f, municipio (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} kommúna f

Etymology 2

From Middle English communen, comunen, from Old French comunier, communier (“to share”), from Latin commūnico. Doublet of communicate.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kəmyo͞on', IPA^(key): /kəˈmjuːn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

commune (third-person singular simple present communes, present participle communing, simple past and past participle communed)

1. To converse together with sympathy and confidence; to interchange sentiments or feelings; to take counsel.
   • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “Measvre for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     I would commune with you of such things / That want no ear but yours.

2. (intransitive, followed by with) To communicate (with) spiritually; to be together (with); to contemplate or absorb.

   He spent a week in the backcountry, communing with nature.

3. (Christianity, intransitive) To receive the communion.
   • 1679-1715, Gilbert Burnet, History of the Reformation

     Namely, in these things, in prohibiting that none should commune alone, in making the people whole communers, or in suffering them to commune under both kinds […]

---

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch commune, from Old French commune, from Latin [Term?].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɔˈmynə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mu‧ne
• Rhymes: -ynə

Noun

commune f (plural communes, diminutive communetje n)

1. A commune (community living together with common property).

Descendants

• → Indonesian: komune

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.myn/

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Medieval Latin communia, neuter plural of communis.

Noun

commune f (plural communes)

1. commune (administrative subdivision)

Descendants

• → Danish: kommune
• → German: Kommune
• → Norwegian Bokmål: kommune
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: kommune
• → Russian: комму́на (kommúna)
• → Swedish: kommun

Etymology 2

Adjective

commune

1. feminine singular of commun

Further reading

• “commune” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Italian

Adjective

commune (plural communi)

1. Obsolete form of comune.

Noun

commune m (plural communi)

1. Obsolete form of comune.

Derived terms

• communità

---

Latin

Adjective

commūne

1. nominative neuter singular of commūnis
2. accusative neuter singular of commūnis
3. vocative neuter singular of commūnis

References

• commune in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• commune in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• commune in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• commune in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) we know from experience: usu rerum (vitae, vitae communis) edocti sumus
    
  • (ambiguous) unanimously: uno, communi, summo or omnium consensu (Tusc. 1. 15. 35)
    
  • (ambiguous) the ordinary usage of language, everyday speech: communis sermonis consuetudo
    
  • (ambiguous) to be always considering what people think: multum communi hominum opinioni tribuere