plebeius

Latin

Etymology

From plēbēs (“the common people”) (archaic form of plēbs) +‎ -ius, alternatively analyzable as plēbs +‎ -ēius.

Pronunciation

• (tetrasyllabic, Graecizing) (Classical) IPA^(key): /pleːˈbeː.i.us/, [pɫ̪eːˈbeːiʊs̠]
• (trisyllabic, ordinary) (Classical) IPA^(key): /pleːˈbeː.i̯us/, [pɫ̪eːˈbeːi̯ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /pleˈbe.jus/, [pleˈbɛːjus]

Note: the long vowel /eː/ before the consonantal /i̯/ of the suffix is due to plēbēs being an ē-stem, differently from e.g. Pompeius.

Adjective

plēbēius (feminine plēbēia, neuter plēbēium); first/second-declension adjective

1. plebeian
2. common, vulgar

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	plēbēius	plēbēia	plēbēium		plēbēiī	plēbēiae	plēbēia
Genitive	plēbēiī	plēbēiae	plēbēiī		plēbēiōrum	plēbēiārum	plēbēiōrum
Dative	plēbēiō		plēbēiō		plēbēiīs
Accusative	plēbēium	plēbēiam	plēbēium		plēbēiōs	plēbēiās	plēbēia
Ablative	plēbēiō	plēbēiā	plēbēiō		plēbēiīs
Vocative	plēbēie	plēbēia	plēbēium		plēbēiī	plēbēiae	plēbēia

Noun

plēbēius m (genitive plēbēiī or plēbēī); second declension

1. plebeian

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	plēbēius	plēbēiī
Genitive	plēbēiī plēbēī1	plēbēiōrum
Dative	plēbēiō	plēbēiīs
Accusative	plēbēium	plēbēiōs
Ablative	plēbēiō	plēbēiīs
Vocative	plēbēie	plēbēiī

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

References

• “plēbēĭus (-ējus)”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “plebeius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• plebeius 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)
• plebeius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • one of the people: homo plebeius, de plebe