primus

See also: Primus and prímus

English

Etymology

From Latin prīmus (“[the] first”); related to prior, the comparative form. Partially cognate to foremost, from Proto-Indo-European [Term?]. Doublet of prime and primo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪməs/
• Rhymes: -aɪməs

Noun

primus (plural primuses)

1. One of the bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church, who presides at the meetings of the bishops, and has certain privileges but no metropolitan authority.
   • 1884, Gonzalo Canilla, speech at the Centenary of the consecration of Samuel Seabury

     my own grandfather, some time Bishop of Edinburgh, among its Primuses

Derived terms

• primus-ship

See also

• primus motor
• primus inter pares
• primate

References

• “primus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• purism

Latin

Latin numbers ^(edit)

		10
		I 1	2  → [a], [b]	10  →
Cardinal: ūnus     Ordinal: prīmus     Adverbial: semel     Proportional: simplus     Multiplier: simplex     Distributive: singulus     Collective: ūniō     Fractional: integer

Etymology

From earlier prīsmos, from Proto-Italic *priisemos, a superlative form (see -issimus) of the obsolete preposition *pri ~ *prei, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *préy, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front”). Compare prior (“earlier, in front”), the corresponding comparative. Cognate of Oscan promom, Umbrian promom (“first”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpriː.mʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈpriː.mus]

Adjective

prīmus (feminine prīma, neuter prīmum, adverb prīmō); first/second-declension adjective

1. first, early
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.2–4:

     […] dī, coeptīs (nam vōs mūtāstis et illa)
     adspīrāte meīs prīmāque ab orīgine mundī
     ad mea perpetuum dēdūcite tempora carmen!

     O gods, favor my undertakings (for you have changed them too), and lead my uninterrupted song down from the first origin of the world to my times!

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	prīmus	prīma	prīmum		prīmī	prīmae	prīma
genitive	prīmī	prīmae	prīmī		prīmōrum	prīmārum	prīmōrum
dative	prīmō	prīmae	prīmō		prīmīs
accusative	prīmum	prīmam	prīmum		prīmōs	prīmās	prīma
ablative	prīmō	prīmā	prīmō		prīmīs
vocative	prīme	prīma	prīmum		prīmī	prīmae	prīma

Derived terms

• cum prīmīs
• prīma māteria
• prīmārius
• prīmī decannālēs
• prīmō
• prīmōgenitus
• prīmum mōbile
• prīmum movēns
• prīmum nōn nocēre
• prīmus inter pārēs "first amongst equals"
• prīnceps

Descendants

Descendants which mean "cousin" derive from the ellipsis of cōnsobrīnus prīmus (“first cousin”)

• Balkan Romance:
  • Romanian: prim
• Dalmatian:
  • praimo
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: primo (see there for further descendants)
  • Neapolitan: primo
  • Sicilian: primu
• Padanian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: premm
    • Ligurian: primmo
    • Old Lombard: primo
      • Lombard: primm, prumm
      • Gallo-Italic of Sicily: primu, primö
    • Piedmontese: prim, prum
    • Romagnol: prèm
  • Friulian: prin
  • Istriot: preîmo
  • Ladin: prim, prum
  • Romansch: emprim, emprem, amprem, prüm
  • Venetan: primo
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: prim
  • Franco-Provençal: prim
  • Old French: prim
  • Occitan: prim
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: primu
  • Old Spanish: primo
    • Ladino: primo
    • Spanish: primo
  • Portuguese: primo
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: primmu, primu
• Borrowings:
  • → English: primus
  • → Old Irish: prím, prím-
    • Irish: príomh-
    • Manx: preeu-
    • Scottish Gaelic: prìomh-
  • → Proto-Brythonic: *priβ̃
    • Welsh: prif

See also

• prima materia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Primum Mobile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• primum movens on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• primum non nocere on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• “primus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “primus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "primus", 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)
• “primus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to have a superficial knowledge, a smattering of literature, of the sciences: primis (ut dicitur) or primoribus labris gustare or attingere litteras
    
  • to receive the first elements of a liberal education: primis litterarum elementis imbui
    
  • the actor who plays the leading part: actor primarum (secundarum, tertiarum) partium
    
  • to give the palm, the first place (for wisdom) to some one: primas (e.g. sapientiae) alicui deferre, tribuere, concedere
    
  • (ambiguous) at the first opportunity: primo quoque tempore
    
  • (ambiguous) at the beginning of spring: ineunte, primo vere
    
  • (ambiguous) we start by presupposing that..: positum est a nobis primum (c. Acc. c. Inf.)
    
  • (ambiguous) to be considered the foremost orator: primum or principem inter oratores locum obtinere
    
  • (ambiguous) to occupy the first, second position in the state: principem (primum), secundum locum dignitatis obtinere
    
  • (ambiguous) the vanguard: agmen primum
    
• “primus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• primus in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “primus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 488

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Primus.

Noun

primus n (plural primusuri)

1. kerosene stove

Declension

Declension of primus

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	primus	primusul		primusuri	primusurile
genitive-dative	primus	primusului		primusuri	primusurilor
vocative	primusule			primusurilor