paulus
Latin edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From earlier paullus, likely from Proto-Italic *paukslos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, small”) + *-ko- + *-slom, the first two elements also giving Latin paucus (“few”).[1]
Against this, De Vaan (2008) notes that "the suffix *-slo- is otherwise only used for instrument nouns, and only after consonant stems; both are reasons to reject a preform *pauk-slo- derived from *pau-ko-", and quotes Thurneysen (1907: 177) as deriving it from Proto-Italic *paurelos, from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂uros, also from *peh₂w-.
However, the regular development of the cluster /wr/ is metathesis, as in parvus, and just this is attested in parvulus. It's difficult to envision a split outcome of metathesis for the base form and its morphologically transparent diminutive (cf. the systematic parallels above). The "instrument nouns" objection can be countered with the striking parallel in pullus (“animal young”) :: pusillus (“tiny”) and by the cross-linguistic tendency to refer to the young with neuter or otherwise objectifying nouns (cf. German -chen); the precise meaning of the suffix also need not have been an instrument.
Further related to Latin pauper, puer, Ancient Greek παῦρος (paûros), English few.Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpau̯.lus/, [ˈpäu̯ɫ̪ʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈpau̯.lus/, [ˈpäːu̯lus]
Adjective edit
paulus (feminine paula, neuter paulum, adverb paulō); first/second-declension adjective
Usage notes edit
Used especially pertaining to size.
Declension edit
First/second-declension adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | paulus | paula | paulum | paulī | paulae | paula | |
Genitive | paulī | paulae | paulī | paulōrum | paulārum | paulōrum | |
Dative | paulō | paulō | paulīs | ||||
Accusative | paulum | paulam | paulum | paulōs | paulās | paula | |
Ablative | paulō | paulā | paulō | paulīs | |||
Vocative | paule | paula | paulum | paulī | paulae | paula |
Synonyms edit
- (small): parvus
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
References edit
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “paucus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 450
Further reading edit
- “paulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “paulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- paulus 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)
- paulus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
- (ambiguous) the delivery is rather halting, poor: actio paulum claudicat
- (ambiguous) the delivery is rather halting, poor: actio paulum claudicat
- “paulus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “paulus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray