English edit

Etymology edit

Learned borrowing from Latin pauper (poor). Originally a legal term.[1] Doublet of poor.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

pauper (plural paupers)

  1. One who is extremely poor.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pauper
  2. One living on or eligible for public charity.

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb edit

pauper (third-person singular simple present paupers, present participle paupering, simple past and past participle paupered)

  1. (transitive) To make a pauper of; to drive into poverty.
    • 2017, Naomi Rawlings, Love's Christmas Hope:
      “There's no sense in you paupering yourself because you're too stubborn to take my money.”

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pauper”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading edit

Dalmatian edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Learned borrowing from Latin pauper.

Adjective edit

pauper

  1. poor

Dutch edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin pauper.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈpɑu̯.pər/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: pau‧per

Noun edit

pauper m (plural paupers, diminutive paupertje n)

  1. (informal, often derogatory) A pauper.

Derived terms edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Italic *pawoparos (a thematic adjective, which was switched to the third declension in Latin analogically), from a compound beginning with Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (few, small) (compare English few). The origin of the second element, -per, is less certain, but probably *perh₃- (to grant, bestow, provide) (compare Ancient Greek ἔπορον (époron, to supply, grant, pay)), therefore the compound meant “providing little”.[1]

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

pauper (genitive pauperis, comparative pauperior, superlative pauperrimus); third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem)

  1. poor
    Synonyms: egens, inops, exiguus
    Antonyms: opulentus, dives, dis, ditis, opulens, locuples, pecuniosus

Declension edit

Third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem).

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masc./Fem. Neuter Masc./Fem. Neuter
Nominative pauper pauperēs paupera
Genitive pauperis pauperum
Dative pauperī pauperibus
Accusative pauperem pauper pauperēs paupera
Ablative paupere pauperibus
Vocative pauper pauperēs paupera
  • In Late or Vulgar Latin, this third declension adjective seems to have been regularized to first/second declension, like in the attested forms pauperus and paupera

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

Learned borrowings

References edit

  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pauper”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 451:PIt. *pau(o)-pa/oro-; PIE *peh₂u-(o-)p(o)rh₃-o-

Further reading edit

  • pauper”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • pauper”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • pauper in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to raise a man from poverty to wealth: aliquem ex paupere divitem facere

Middle English edit

Noun edit

pauper

  1. Alternative form of paper

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin pauper.

Adjective edit

pauper m or n (feminine singular pauperă, masculine plural pauperi, feminine and neuter plural paupere)

  1. poor

Declension edit