mulier
English
Etymology
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈmjuː.lɪə/
Audio (UK): (file)
Noun
mulier (plural muliers)
- (law, historical) Lawful issue born in wedlock, in distinction from an elder brother born of the same parents before their marriage.
- 1908, Alfred John Horwood, Luke Owen Pike, Year books of the reign of King Edward the Third: Volume 15
- Or suppose an inquest were taken between us, and it were found that they are muliers, for which reason the voucher stood, and they came and pleaded the same exception to escape from warranting as heirs, then two inquests would be taken […]
- 1908, Alfred John Horwood, Luke Owen Pike, Year books of the reign of King Edward the Third: Volume 15
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “mulier”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Related terms
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *moljes, of uncertain origin; it has been proposed that it might derive from mollior, comparative of mollis (“soft, tender”), while others propose it might be akin to mulgere and therefore mean “the milk-giver”.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈmu.li.er/, [ˈmʊlʲiɛr]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmu.li.er/, [ˈmuːlier]
Noun
mulier f (genitive mulieris); third declension
- a woman, female
- c. 161 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Phormio 5.9:
- mulier sapiēns es, Nausistrata.
- You are a wise woman, Nausistrata.
- mulier sapiēns es, Nausistrata.
- (by extension) a wife
- (figuratively) a coward, poltroon
- (Medieval Latin) a virgin adult
Declension
Third-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | mulier | mulierēs |
Genitive | mulieris | mulierum |
Dative | mulierī | mulieribus |
Accusative | mulierem | mulierēs |
Ablative | muliere | mulieribus |
Vocative | mulier | mulierēs |
Usage notes
A mulier was a woman who was married in contrast with a virgo (“unmarried woman of a marriageable age”). Thus, if a noble young girl of age 12 got married, she would be called a mulier even though by today's standards, we would not call this girl a "woman". In contrast, if a common young woman of age 19 or 21 was still unmarried, she often was still called a virgo despite being much older than that young noble girl married at age 12.
If an older woman for whatever reason was not married off, she could be called a mulier too, so it is not a term used exclusively for married women.
Derived terms
Descendants
- Balkan Romance:
- Dalmatian:
- Italo-Romance:
- Padanian:
- Northern Gallo-Romance:
- Southern Gallo-Romance:
- Ibero-Romance:
- Sardinian:
- Borrowings:
- → English: mulier
References
- “mulier”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “mulier”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- mulier in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “mŭlier”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume Lua error in Module:debug at line 160: invalid volume number
, page 200
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *mel-
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Law
- English terms with historical senses
- en:People
- Latin terms inherited from Proto-Italic
- Latin terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Latin 3-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin third declension nouns
- Latin feminine nouns in the third declension
- Latin feminine nouns
- Latin terms with quotations
- Medieval Latin
- la:Female people