paulus1
Meaning
- adjectivelittle, small
Declension
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | paulus | paula | paulum |
| genitive | paulī | paulae | paulī |
| dative | paulō | paulae | paulō |
| accusative | paulum | paulam | paulum |
| ablative | paulō | paulā | paulō |
| vocative | paule | paula | paulum |
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | paulī | paulae | paula |
| genitive | paulōrum | paulārum | paulōrum |
| dative | paulīs | paulīs | paulīs |
| accusative | paulōs | paulās | paula |
| ablative | paulīs | paulīs | paulīs |
| vocative | paulī | paulae | paula |
paulo momento huc vel illuc impelli, Ter. And. 1, 5, 31: paulo sumptu, id. Ad. 5, 4, 22: pauper a paulo lare, Varr. L. L. 5, § 92 Müll.: paula trua, Titin. ap. Non. 19, 19.—quasi vero paulum intersiet, Ter. Eun. 4, 4, 18: an paulum hoc esse tibi videtur? id. ib. 5, 2, 18; 5, 8, 38: agelli paulum, id. Ad. 5, 8, 26: supplicī, id. And. 5, 3, 32; so, negotī, id. Heaut. 3, 1, 92: lucri, id. ib. 4, 4, 25: paulum huic Cottae tribuit partium, allotted a small part of his defence, Cic. de Or. 1, 53, 229: nil Aut paulum abstulerat, Hor. Ep. 1, 15, 33: ubi paulum nescio quid superest, Juv. 11, 47: post paulum, v. infra. —paulo prius, Plaut. Men. 4, 3, 7: liberius paulo, Cic. Or. 24, 82: civis haud paulo melior, quam, etc., id. Att. 2, 12, 3: paulo secus, id. de Or. 3, 30, 119: haud paulo plus, id. Fam. 7, 1, 3: paulo minus consideratus, id. Quint. 3, 11: paulo magis affabre factus, Cic. Verr. 1, 5, 14: verbis paulo magis priscis uti, id. Brut. 21, 82: paulo longius processerant, Caes. B. G. 2, 20: maturius paulo, id. ib. 1, 54: paulo minus quatuordecim annos, a little under, Suet. Ner. 40: paulo minus, quam privatum egit, id. Tib. 26: paulo minus octogesimo aetatis anno decessit, Plin. Ep. 7, 24, 1: paulo minus quinque millia, id. Pan. 28, 4.—quae paulo ante praecepta dedimus, Cic. Part. 39, 137: paulo ante, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 3, § 6; Juv. 6, 227; 9, 114: post paulo, just after, a little after, Sall. C. 18, 3; Liv. 22, 60. —magnitudine paulo antecedunt, Caes. B. G. 6, 26: verba paulo nimium redundantia, Cic. de Or. 2, 21, 88: histrio si paulo se movit extra numerum, id. Par. 3, 2, 26: paulo ultra eum locum, Caes. B. C. 3, 66: paulo mox, Plin. 18, 28, 68, § 268.—paulo qui est homo tolerabilis, Ter. Heaut. 1, 2, 31: ut non solum gloriosis consiliis utamur, sed etiam paulo salubribus, Cic. Att. 8, 12, 5: aut nihil aut paulo cui tum concedere digna, Lux mea, etc., Cat. 68, 131.—Hence, paulum supra eum locum, Caes. B. G. 6, 9: epistolae me paulum recreant, Cic. Att. 9, 6, 5: paulum differre, id. Agr. 2, 31, 85: requiescere, id. de Or. 1, 62, 265: commorari, id. Rosc. Com. 10, 28: scaphae paulum progressae, Sall. ap. Gell. 10, 26, 10 (Hist. 1, 60 Dietsch): paulum aspectu conterritus haesit, Verg. A. 3, 597.—post paulum, a little later, after a short time, Caes. B. G. 7, 50; Quint. 9, 4, 19; 2, 17, 25; 11, 3, 148: ultra paulum, id. 11, 3, 21; cf.: infra jugulum, Suet. Caes. 82; cf. also: paulum praelabitur ante, Cic. poët. N. D. 2, 43, 111.—haud paulum major, Sil. 15, 21: tardius, Stat. Th. 10, 938.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
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 /diphthong + 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.