Latin

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Etymology

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From lēx (law) +‎ -uleius.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lēguleius m (genitive lēguleiī or lēguleī); second declension

  1. (often derogatory) a procedural lawyer, one expert in formal technicalities
    Synonym: fōrmulārius
    • 55 BCE, Cicero, De Oratore 1.236.7:
      Ita est tibi iūris cōnsultus ipse per sē nihil nisi lēguleius quīdam cautus et acūtus, praecō āctiōnum, cantor fōrmulārum, auceps syllabārum
      And as a result, a lawyer in and of himself ends up being merely some kind of diligent and shrewd legal tradesman, a crier of legal actions, a singer of legal formulas, a trapper of syllables.

Declension

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Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative lēguleius lēguleiī
Genitive lēguleiī
lēguleī1
lēguleiōrum
Dative lēguleiō lēguleiīs
Accusative lēguleium lēguleiōs
Ablative lēguleiō lēguleiīs
Vocative lēguleie lēguleiī

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

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  • Italian: leguleio
  • Polish: legulej
  • Portuguese: leguleio, legulejo
  • Spanish: leguleyo

See also

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Further reading

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  • lēgulēius” on page 1116 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
  • leguleius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • leguleius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • leguleius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.