Talk:communis

Etymology

Per “common”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.:

• AHD:common[1] does not trace communis any further, except to IE root mei-; see also The American Heritage Dictionary Indo-European Roots Appendix: mei-[2].
• M-W:common[3] directs the reader, for communis, to mean[4], in which communis and munus are given as a list of akins, but communis is not expressly traced to munus.
• etymonline.com:common[5] does not trace communis to munus; it does not mention munus at all and instead mentions munia.
• Collins:common[6] does not trace communis to munus.

--Dan Polansky (talk) 13:31, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

Latin and Proto-Indo-European dictionaries safely refer communis to munus etc. and all from *mey- (to exchange). But, since communis is adjective, the adjective munis (as if 'partaking') could be its direct source and of immunis. -GuitarDudeness (talk) 10:51, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

Can you please name the specific dictionaries which indicate that communis stemms from (as opposed to is merely related to) munus, with year of publication, and ideally with links online as far as possible? --Dan Polansky (talk) 11:07, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

One more piece: Rejzek 2001:komuna (a Czech etymological dictionary) indicates that communis is from the same source as munus, without indicating direct derivation from munus. --Dan Polansky (talk) 11:12, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

I added AHD: mei- above. --Dan Polansky (talk) 11:23, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 710

“communis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

-GuitarDudeness (talk) 12:32, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

And yet L&S:communis says "adj. con and root mu-, to bind; Sanscr. mav-; cf.: immunis, munus, moenia, ...". It follows that L&S dos not say that communis is from munus. --Dan Polansky (talk) 12:55, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

Nor does the linked Pokorny say that communis is from munus. --Dan Polansky (talk) 12:57, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

• @Dan Polansky, GuitarDudeness: For the record, De Vaan 2008 also asserts origin from munus. His comments are: All words are based on two stems, *mūnos- and *mūni- 'function, obligation'. A mūniceps is one who 'takes an obligation', commūnis 'who partakes in the duties'. The i-stem in the adj. could in theory have been created in Italic after adjectives such as inermis 'unarmed'; on the other hand, G[ermanic] shows the same compound in Go[thic] gamains. Munis can be a back-formation to communis. mellohi! (僕の乖離) 21:51, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

  In the above quoted text, I find no location that says or suggests that communis is from munus. --Dan Polansky (talk) 13:41, 15 July 2018 (UTC)

@Mellohi!: Thank you for this. -GuitarDudeness (talk) 02:01, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

@Mellohi!: Reconstructed with *-ū-?! Despite Old Latin co(m)moinis, moenus, etc.? Weird. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 21:15, 17 October 2019 (UTC)