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paulus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
paulus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
paulus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
paulus you have here. The definition of the word
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Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
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”).
Details
Cf. the proportions
paullus ::
paucus like
axis ::
āla like
veicus ::
veilla, and with diminutives
paullus ::
pauxillus like
āla ::
āxilla like
aulla ::
auxilla.
veilla and
aulla showcase the same development of /dipthong + ks/ as the present word.
māla,
vēlum,
pālus are further examples of words formed with the same suffixes.
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
Adjective
paulus (feminine paula, neuter paulum, adverb paulō); first/second-declension adjective
- little, small
Usage notes
Used especially pertaining to size.
Declension
First/second-declension adjective.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
References
- 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
- ^ Weiss, Michael L. (2009) Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press, →ISBN, page 177
Further reading
- “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, London: Macmillan and Co.
- (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