plebs
English
Etymology
From Latin plēbs (“the plebeian class”), variant of earlier plēbēs. Later also understood as the plural of pleb.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plɛbz/
Noun
plebs
- (historical) The plebeian class of ancient Rome.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, act IV, scene iv, line 92:
- Why I am going with my pidgeons to the tribunall Plebs.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, act IV, scene iv, line 92:
- The common people, especially (derogatory) the mob.
- a. 1657, George Daniel, "The Author" in Poems, Vol. II, p. 131:
- 2000, James Fentress, chapter 1, in Rebels & Mafiosi: Death in a Sicilian Landscape:
- The history of Palermo was punctuated by such uprisings; when they happened, the great barons simply fled to the safety of their country villas, leaving the urban plebs free to sack their palaces in the city.
- 2009, Erica Benner, chapter 8, in Machiavelli's Ethics:
- The lesser plebs are not unscrupulous troublemakers.
- plural of pleb in its various senses.
Usage notes
Although the Latin plebs was usually declined as a singular group noun, English plebs is usually treated as grammatically plural in all its senses.
Synonyms
- (common people): the canaille, the common people, the great unwashed, the herd, the hoi polloi, the many, the masses, the multitude, the peasantry (rural), the proletariat (urban), the rabble, the rank-and-file, the riffraff, the working class, the mob
Translations
The common people
Czech
Latin
Alternative forms
- plēbēs (archaic)
Etymology
From Old Latin plēbēs, from Proto-Italic *plēðūs (whence Oscan 𐌐𐌋𐌝𐌚𐌓𐌉𐌊𐌔 (plífriks, “plebeian”, nom. sg.) via *plēðros), from Proto-Indo-European *pléh₁dʰuh₁ (whence Ancient Greek πληθῡ́ς (plēthū́s, “crowd”)) from *pleh₁- (“fill”), whence pleō. See also populus.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /pleːps/, [pɫeːps]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /pleps/
Noun
plēbs f (genitive plēbis); third declension
Inflection
Third declension i-stem.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | plēbs | plēbēs |
Genitive | plēbis | plēbium |
Dative | plēbī | plēbibus |
Accusative | plēbem | plēbēs |
Ablative | plēbe | plēbibus |
Vocative | plēbs | plēbēs |
Medieval Latin:
Third declension.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | plēbs | plēbēs |
Genitive | plēbis | plēbum |
Dative | plēbī | plēbibus |
Accusative | plēbem | plēbēs |
Ablative | plēbe | plēbibus |
Vocative | plēbs | plēbēs |
Derived terms
- plēbēcula/ plēbicula
- plēbēius
- plēbicola
- plēbiscītum
- plēbitās
Descendants
References
- plebs in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- plebs in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- plebs in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- plebs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
- Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- one of the people: homo plebeius, de plebe
- to get oneself admitted as a plebeian: traduci ad plebem (Att. 1. 18. 4)
- to transfer oneself from the patrician to the plebeian order: transitio ad plebem (Brut. 16. 62)
- to transfer oneself from the patrician to the plebeian order: traductio ad plebem
- to stir up the lower classes: plebem concitare, sollicitare
- to hold the people in one's power, in check: plebem continere
- (ambiguous) the dregs of the people: faex populi, plebis, civitatis
- (ambiguous) a demagogue, agitator: plebis dux, vulgi turbator, civis turbulentus, civis rerum novarum cupidus
- (ambiguous) the plebeian tribunes, whose persons are inviolable: tribuni plebis sacrosancti (Liv. 3. 19. 10)
- (ambiguous) to appeal to the plebeian tribunes against a praetor's decision: appellare tribunos plebis (in aliqua re a praetore) (Liv. 2. 55)
- one of the people: homo plebeius, de plebe
- plebs in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
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