rūsticus1
Meaning
- adjectiveof the country, rural, rustic
'Nescio' inquit 'quae causa odi fuerit; fuisse odium intellego qui antea, cum duos filios haberet, illum alterum qui mortuus est secum omni tempore volebat esse, hunc in praedia rustica relegarat.'
'I know not', says he, 'what cause for displeasure there was; but I know that displeasure existed; because formerly, when he had two sons, he chose that other one, who is dead, to be at all times with himself, but sent this other one to his country farms.'80 BCE, Cicero, Pro Roscio Amerino 15.42Olim rusticus urbanum murem mus paupere fertur accepisse cavo...
It is told that once upon a time a country mouse in his poor burrow received a city mouse...65 BCE – 8 BCE, Horatius, Sermones (liber II) 6 - adjectivefigurativelyunrefined, boorish, coarse
[…]rustica vox et agrestis quosdam delectat[…]
[…] a boorish and rude voice delights certain men […]55 BCE, Cicero, De oratore 3.11.42[…]rusticus Romanus factus es.
[…] you were made a Roman farmer.62 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares 16.21
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
quī rūris est; homō rūsticus in agrīs vīvit.Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Rus · Ager · Rusticus · Agrestis · Rusticanus
1. Rus (ἄροτον) denotes the country, in opp. to the town or city, the village with what belongs to it; whereas ager (ἀγρός) the country, in opp. to the district in general, the open country or fields. Cels. Med. 1. Sanum oportet . . . modo ruri esse, modo in urbe, sæpiusque in agro. 2. Rusticus denotes, like ἀγροῖκος, merely residing in the country; agrestis, like ἄγριος, growing wild in the fields, like ferus, but as a milder expression, for ferus (φῆρες) denotes wildness as an inward nature; agrestis, merely as a mark of the place of residence, or of extraction. 3. In a spiritual sense, rusticus denotes more an intellectual, agrestis more a moral roughness; rusticus, like countrified, has a reference to bashfulness and uncouthness; in its best sense, it is allied to innocence; in its worst, to awkwardness; whereas agrestis, like boorish, has a reference to shamelessness and vulgarity, is never used in a good sense, but borders on feritas, and answers to the German word Flegelei, ‘churlishness.’ The rusticus, in opp. to urbanus, violates only the conventional laws of decorum; the agrestis, in opp. to humanus, the natural laws of decorum also. 4. When Cicero wishes to give to rusticus a still milder sense, and secure it from ambiguity, he adopts the word rusticanus; so that, according to him, rusticus is one who actually lives in a country-village, rusticanus, one who resembles those who live in country-villages; hence among the rusticani the municipes may be reckoned, as rusticorum similes.
Declension
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | rūsticus rūsticulus | rūstica rūsticula | rūsticum rūsticulum |
| genitive | rūsticī rūsticulī | rūsticae rūsticulae | rūsticī rūsticulī |
| dative | rūsticō rūsticulō | rūsticae rūsticulae | rūsticō rūsticulō |
| accusative | rūsticum rūsticulum | rūsticam rūsticulam | rūsticum rūsticulum |
| ablative | rūsticō rūsticulō | rūsticā rūsticulā | rūsticō rūsticulō |
| vocative | rūstice rūsticule | rūstica rūsticula | rūsticum rūsticulum |
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | rūsticī rūsticulī | rūsticae rūsticulae | rūstica rūsticula |
| genitive | rūsticōrum rūsticulōrum | rūsticārum rūsticulārum | rūsticōrum rūsticulōrum |
| dative | rūsticīs rūsticulīs | rūsticīs rūsticulīs | rūsticīs rūsticulīs |
| accusative | rūsticōs rūsticulōs | rūsticās rūsticulās | rūstica rūsticula |
| ablative | rūsticīs rūsticulīs | rūsticīs rūsticulīs | rūsticīs rūsticulīs |
| vocative | rūsticī rūsticulī | rūsticae rūsticulae | rūstica rūsticula |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- vita rustica
- country life (the life of resident farmers, etc.)
- opus rusticum
- tillage; cultivation.
vita, Varr. R. R. 3, 1, 1; cf.: vita haec rustica, quam tu agrestem vocas, Cic. Rosc. Am. 27, 75: duae vitae hominum, rustica et urbana, id. ib. 17, 48: Romani (opp. urbani), Varr. R. R. 2, praef. § 1; cf. plebes (opp. urbana), Col. praef. § 17; praedia, Cic. Rosc. Am. 15, 42: hortus, Plin. Ep. 2, 17, 15: instrumentum, Phaedr. 4, 4, 24: opus, Ter. Heaut. 1, 1, 90: res, Cic. de Or. 1, 16, 69; 1, 58, 249; Col. praef. § 19 sq.: homo (with agricola), Cic. Rosc. Am. 49, 143; id. N. D. 3, 5, 11: colona, Ov. F. 2, 645; cf. Phidyle, Hor. C. 3, 23, 2: mus (opp. urbanus), id. S. 2, 6, 80; 115: gallinae, heathcocks, Varr. R. R. 3, 9, 16; Col. 8, 2, 1 sq. (cf. infra, B. 2. b.): numina, Ov. M. 1, 192: fistula, id. ib. 8, 191: sedulitas, id. F. 6, 534: regna, id. H. 4, 132: opprobria versibus alternis, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 146: carcer, Juv. 14, 24.—urbani fiunt rustici, etc., Plaut. Mere. 4, 3, 15 sq.: omnes urbani, rustici, Cic. Fin. 2, 23, 77; cf. id. Or. 24, 81; semper occant prius quam sarriunt rustici, Plaut. Capt. 3, 5, 5; id. Most. 5, 1, 28; Col. 2, 4, 8; 9, 10 et saep.—In sing., Ov. M. 2, 699; Hor. Epod. 2, 68; id. Ep. 1, 7, 83; 2, 2, 39; Vulg. Sap. 17, 16.—previously, as in Cic., agrestis was more used): rustica vox et agrestis quosdam delectat, etc. ... neque solum rusticam asperitatem, sed etiam peregrinam insolentiam fugere discamus, Cic. de Or. 3, 11, 42; 12, 44: pro bardā et pro rusticā haberi, Plaut. Pers. 2, 1, 2: rusticus inlitteratusque litigator, Quint. 2, 21, 16: manus (with indoctae), id. 1, 11, 16; cf. with indoctus, id. 12, 10, 53; with barbarus, id. 2, 20, 6; (opp. disertus) 7, 1, 43: id vitium sermonis non barbarum esse, sed rusticum, Gell. 13, 6, 2: Germana illuvies, rusticus, hircus, hara suis, etc., a lout, clown, Plaut. Most. 1, 1, 39 Lorenz ad loc.: rusticus es, Corydon, Verg. E. 2, 56: quid coeptum, rustice, rumpis iter? Ov. Am. 3, 6, 88: addidit obscenis convicia rustica dictis, id. M. 14, 522: sive procax aliqua est; capior, quia rustica non est, very prudish, id. Am. 2, 4, 13; cf. id. A. A. 1, 607: nec tamen est, quamvis agros amet illa feraces, Rustica, id. Am. 3, 10, 18.—In a good sense: mores, Cic. Rosc. Am. 27, 75: veritas, Mart. 10, 72, 11. —Comp.: simus hoc titulo rusticiore contenti, Sen. Ep. 88, 33.—Hence, adv.: ru-stĭcē (acc. to II.), in a countrified manner, clownishly, boorishly, awkwardly: loquinon aspere, non vaste, non rustice, Cic. de Or. 3, 12, 45: urgere, id. Off. 3, 9, 39: facere aliquid, id. Att. 12, 36, 2: cum eo vitio loquentes rustice loqui dictitabant, Gell. 13, 6, 2.— Comp.: rusticius toga defluit, Hor. S. 1, 3, 31.—Sup. does not occur.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
- Proto-Indo-European*rewh₁os
- Proto-Italic*rowos
- Old Latin *rowos,*rowezos
- Old Latin*rowestikos
- Latinrūsticus
From earlier *rowestikos, itself composed of *rowos, *rowezos + -ticus. The form *rowos continues Proto-Italic *rowos. Equivalent to rūs + -ticus. Compare typologically agrestis, pāgānus. See cīvīlis for more.
- Catalanrústec
- Catalanrústic
- Englishrustic
- Frenchrustique
- Italianrustico
- Frenchrustrefrom Old French rustre
- Englishroisterfrom Old French rustre
- Portugueserústico
- Romanianrustic
- Spanishrústico