populus

See also: Populus

Latin

Etymology 1

From Old Latin populus (since mid-2nd c. BC), from earlier poplus, from even earlier *poplos (attested already since early 5th c. BC^[1]), from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”), further origin unknown; perhaps from Etruscan or from the root of pleō. See also plēbs.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.pu.lus/, [ˈpɔpʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.pu.lus/, [ˈpɔːpulus]

Noun

populus m (genitive populī); second declension

1. a people, nation
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.44:

     Amicitiam populi Romani sibi ornamento et praesidio, non detrimento esse oportere, atque se hac spe petisse.

     That the friendship of the Roman people ought to prove to him an ornament and a safeguard, not a detriment; and that he sought it with that expectation.

2. a community of people
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 26.1:

     Ea tum cura maxime intentos habebat Romanos, non ab ira tantum, quae in nullam unquam ciuitatem iustior fuit, quam quod urbs tam nobilis ac potens, sicut defectione sua traxerat aliquot populos, ita recepta inclinatura rursus animos uidebatur ad ueteris imperii respectum.

     This concern in particular troubled the mindful Romans at the time, not so much because of anger, which has never been more justified against any other city, rather because a city so noble and powerful, in the same way that it had attracted the support of a number of communities by its revolt, was thought would again turn attention back towards respect for the previous government once recaptured.

3. the people, public, crowd, host, multitude
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.374:

     ā populō clāmor ad astra venit

     A shout from the people reaches the stars

4. (Medieval Latin) a group of people
5. (Medieval Latin) a parish, part of a city

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	populus	populī
Genitive	populī	populōrum
Dative	populō	populīs
Accusative	populum	populōs
Ablative	populō	populīs
Vocative	popule	populī

Derived terms

• popellus
• populō
• populātiō
• populāris
• vōx populī

Related terms

• pūblicus
• Pūblius

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: popul, poplu, pupul
  • Romanian: popor
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: popolo (see there for further descendants)
  • Sicilian: populu
• North Italian:
  • Old Emilian: povolo
  • Old Ligurian: povoro
  • Old Piedmontese: povol
  • Old Venetan: puovolo
  • Romansch: pievel
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: poble
  • Franco-Provençal: poplo
  • Old French: pueple (see there for further descendants)
  • Occitan: pòble
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: pueblu
  • Extremaduran: puebru
  • Leonese: pueblu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: poboo (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: pueblo (see there for further descendants)
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: pobulu, poburu, populu
• Borrowings:
  • → Proto-Albanian:
    • Albanian: popull
  • → Proto-Brythonic: *pobl (see there for further descendants)

References

• “populus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “pŏpŭlus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 9: Placabilis–Pyxis, page 180

1. Ranjan Sen, Syllable and Segment in Latin, 2015, p. 150: https://books.google.com/books?id=1VTCBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150

Etymology 2

Unknown. Compare Ancient Greek πτελέα (pteléa, “elm”),^[1] Proto-Slavic *topolь (“poplar”). Possibly from an Proto-Indo-European *po-h₂pel-o-, from a root *h₂pel- also found in Ancient Greek ἀπελλόν (apellón),^[2] although the initial *po- is left unexplained.

Alternative forms

• *plōppus (Vulgar Latin)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpoː.pu.lus/, [ˈpoːpʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.pu.lus/, [ˈpɔːpulus]

Noun

pōpulus f (genitive pōpulī); second declension

2. poplar tree

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pōpulus	pōpulī
Genitive	pōpulī	pōpulōrum
Dative	pōpulō	pōpulīs
Accusative	pōpulum	pōpulōs
Ablative	pōpulō	pōpulīs
Vocative	pōpule	pōpulī

Derived terms

• pōpulnea

Descendants

See also *plōppus § Descendants.

• Catalan: poll, ⇒ pollancre
• Corsican: piobu
• Franco-Provençal: poblo
• Friulian: pôl
• Occitan: píbol
• ⇒ Old French: poplier, popler
  • Middle French: peuplier, poeplier
    • French: peuplier
  • → Middle Dutch: popelier
    • Dutch: populier
  • → Middle English: popler
    • English: poplar
• Spanish: pobo
• Venetan: piopa
• → Esperanto: poplo (via descendants)
• → Ido: poplo (via descendants)
• → Proto-West Germanic: *papulā (see there for further descendants)
• → Vilamovian: pōpuł

References

• “populus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pōpulus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 480–481
2. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἀπελλόν”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 115

Further reading

• “populus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• populus 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)
• populus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the Republic: libera res publica, liber populus
    
  • (ambiguous) the plague breaks out in the city: pestilentia (not pestis) in urbem (populum) invadit
    
  • (ambiguous) to write a history of Rome: res populi Romani perscribere
    
  • (ambiguous) to have an appreciative audience: populum facilem, aequum habere
    
  • (ambiguous) to address a meeting of the people: verba facere apud populum, in contione
    
  • (ambiguous) the dregs of the people: faex populi, plebis, civitatis
    
  • (ambiguous) to summon an assembly of the people: convocare populi concilium and populum ad concilium
    
  • (ambiguous) to submit a formal proposition to the people: agere cum populo (Leg. 3. 4. 10)
    
  • (ambiguous) to propose a law in the popular assembly: legem ferre or simply ferre ad populum, ut...
    
  • (ambiguous) to formally propose a law to the people: legem rogare or rogare populum (cf. sect. XVI. 4, note Aulus Gellius...)
    
  • (ambiguous) popular favour; popularity: populi favor, gratia popularis
    
  • (ambiguous) to court popularity: gratiam populi quaerere
    
  • (ambiguous) public opinion: existimatio populi, hominum
    
  • (ambiguous) unpopularity: offensio populi, popularis
    
  • (ambiguous) unpopularity: offensa populi voluntas
    
  • (ambiguous) democracy: imperium populi or populare, civitas or res publica popularis
    
  • (ambiguous) to be a leading spirit of the popular cause: populi causam agere
    
  • (ambiguous) to enslave a free people: liberum populum servitute afficere
    
  • (ambiguous) to rob a people of its freedom: libertatem populo eripere
    
  • (ambiguous) to grant a people its independence: populum liberum esse, libertate uti, sui iuris esse pati
    
  • (ambiguous) to fail in one's candidature for the consulship: repulsam ferre consulatus (a populo) (Tusc. 5. 19. 54)
    
  • (ambiguous) the censors hold a census of the people: censores censent populum
    
  • (ambiguous) to appeal to the people: provocare ad populum (Liv. 2. 55)
    
  • (ambiguous) a matter is referred (for decision) from the senate to the people: a senatu res ad populum reicitur
    
  • (ambiguous) to be on friendly terms with the Roman people: in amicitia populi Romani esse (Liv. 22. 37)
    
  • (ambiguous) to reduce a country to subjection to oneself: populum in potestatem suam redigere (B. G. 2. 34)
    
  • (ambiguous) to reduce a country to subjection to oneself: populum in deditionem venire cogere
    
  • (ambiguous) to accept the submission of a people: populum in deditionem accipere
    
  • (ambiguous) to subjugate a nation: populum perdomare, subigere
    
  • (ambiguous) to make oneself master of a people, country: populum, terram suo imperio, suae potestati subicere (not sibi by itself)
    
  • (ambiguous) Asia was made subject to Rome: Asia populi Romani facta est
    
• “populus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• populus in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “populus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin