pulvis

Latin

Etymology

Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“flour, dust”), with accompanying comparanda given in the box below.

Cognates

• Latin pollen
• Sanskrit पलाल (palāla)
• Ancient Greek πάλη (pálē, “dust, meal”)
• Albanian pluhur, Gheg Albanian pluhun (possibly)
• Lithuanian pelenai
• Russian пепел (pepel)
• Old Church Slavonic попелъ (popelŭ), пепелъ (pepelŭ)

However, de Vaan is skeptical and prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₁- (“chaff”), comparing palea (“idem”); see there for more.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpul.u̯is/, [ˈpʊɫ̪u̯ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpul.vis/, [ˈpulvis]

Noun

pulvis m (genitive pulveris); third declension (sometimes feminine)^[2]

1. dust, powder, ashes
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.655–656:

     ‘mittite mē in Tiberim, Tiberīnīs vectus ut undīs
     lītus ad Īnachium pulvis inānis eam.’

     “Release [my body] into the Tiber [River], so that, carried by the waves of the Tiber, I may go as lifeless dust to the Inachian shore.”

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Genesis.3.19:

     pulvis es et in pulverem revertēris.

     Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (King James ver.)

2. (figuratively) an arena, place of contest
3. toil, effort, labor

   Synonyms: cōnātus, studium, opus, mōlīmen, opera, labor, cūra, intēnsiō, mōlēs

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	pulvis	pulverēs
genitive	pulveris	pulverum
dative	pulverī	pulveribus
accusative	pulverem	pulverēs
ablative	pulvere	pulveribus
vocative	pulvis	pulverēs

Derived terms

• pulverulentus
• pulvīnus
• pulvisia
• *pulvus

Descendants

See also pulvera.

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: pulbiri, pulbire, pulviri, pulvire, pluburi
  • Romanian: pulbere
• Dalmatian:
  • pulvro
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: polve, polvere

    Central Italian: porvere, porvare, polvare

    Tuscan: polvere, porvare, polvare

  • Neapolitan: polva, porva, povere
  • Sassarese: piuvaru
  • Sicilian: pùrbiri
• North Italian:
  • Friulian: polvar

    pulvaro, puvoro (Dignano)

  • Ladin: polver
  • Lombard: polver
  • Old Ligurian: pover
    • Ligurian: puvie
  • Piedmontese: póer, póver
  • Romansch: pulver
  • Venetan: polvar, polvere
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: pruere, pruine (Logudorese), pruini (Campidanese)
• →? Albanian: pljúhur, bulbër
• → Middle English: pulver
  • English: pulver
• → Proto-West Germanic: *pulver (see there for further descendants)
• → Welsh: pylor

References

1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pulvis, -eris”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 498
2. Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1985) “polvo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), volume IV (Me–Re), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 599

Further reading

• “pulvis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pulvis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pulvis 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)
• pulvis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 851: “la polvere” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “pŭlvis”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 9: Placabilis–Pyxis, page 570