civitas

See also: Civitas

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cīvitās (“city; state, city-state”). Doublet of city.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈki.wɪˌtɑs/, /ˈtʃiviˌtɑs/

Noun

civitas (plural civitates)

1. (pedantic) A community.
2. (pedantic) A state, (chiefly) a city-state.

References

• Merriam-Webster Online. "civitas". 2015.

Anagrams

• cavitis

---

Latin

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From cīvis (“citizen”) +‎ -itās.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkiː.u̯i.taːs/, [ˈkiːu̯ɪt̪äːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃi.vi.tas/, [ˈt͡ʃiːvit̪äs]

Noun

cīvitās f (genitive cīvitātis); third declension

1. (Classical Latin) a city and all external territory (thus distinguished from urbs)
2. (Classical Latin) kingdoms, city-states, or tribes, especially under Roman rule.
3. (Classical Latin) citizens of a territory
4. (Classical Latin) citizenship and its rights; often referring to Roman citizenship
5. (Medieval Latin) a city: a major, biblical, or specially incorporated town, particularly cathedral cities

   • His diebus Langobardi Italia invaserunt, Vincentiam Veronamque et reliquas Venetiarum civitates coepit, et per tres annos Ticino possedit.

     In those days that the Lombards invaded Italy, he began Vincentia & Verona and the rest of the Venetian cities, and possessed Ticino for three years.

6. (Medieval Latin) a borough: a walled settlement, sometimes particularly former Roman towns
7. (Ecclesiastical Latin) either the Church or Heaven

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cīvitās	cīvitātēs
Genitive	cīvitātis	cīvitātium cīvitātum
Dative	cīvitātī	cīvitātibus
Accusative	cīvitātem	cīvitātēs cīvitātīs
Ablative	cīvitāte	cīvitātibus
Vocative	cīvitās	cīvitātēs

Derived terms

• cīvitātula
• cūrātor cīvitātis, dēfēnsor cīvitātis, exāctor cīvitātis

Related terms

• cīvicus
• cīvis
• cīvīle
• cīvīlis
• cīvīliter
• cīvīlitās

 

Descendants

• Albanian: qytet
• Anglo-Norman: citet
• Aragonese: ziudá
• Aromanian: tsitati
• Asturian: ciudá
• Breton: keoded
• Catalan: ciutat
• Dalmatian: cituot
• English: city, civitas
• Swedish: city
• French: cité
• Friulian: citât
• Istriot: sità
• Istro-Romanian: cetåte
• Italian: città, cittade, city
• Ladin: zità
• Ligurian: çitæ
• Old Occitan: ciutat, ciptat, ciu
  • Occitan: ciutat
• Old Galician-Portuguese: çibdade, cidade
  • Galician: cidade
  • Portuguese: cidade, cividade
• Picard: chitè
• Piedmontese: sità
• Romanian: cetate
• Romansch: citad, cited
• Sardinian: tzitade
• Sicilian: cità, citati
• Spanish: ciudad
• Tarantino: cetate
• Venetian: sità, çità
• Welsh: ciwed, ciwdod

References

• “civitas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “civitas”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• civitas 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)
• civitas in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • Plato's ideal republic: civitas optima, perfecta Platonis
    
  • Plato's ideal republic: illa civitas Platonis commenticia
    
  • Plato's ideal republic: illa civitas, quam Plato finxit
    
  • universal history: omnis memoria, omnis memoria aetatum, temporum, civitatum or omnium rerum, gentium, temporum, saeculorum memoria
    
  • the constitution: descriptio civitatis
    
  • to give the state a constitution: civitati leges, iudicia, iura describere
    
  • to be the chief man in the state: principem civitatis esse
    
  • the head of the state: rector civitatis (De Or. 1. 48. 211)
    
  • to make a man a citizen: civitate donare aliquem (Balb. 3. 7)
    
  • to enroll as a citizen, burgess: in civitatem recipere, ascribere, asciscere aliquem
    
  • to present a person with the freedom of the city: civitatem alicui dare, tribuere, impertire
    
  • to naturalise oneself as a citizen of another country: civitatem mutare (Balb. 11. 27)
    
  • the dregs of the people: faex populi, plebis, civitatis
    
  • aristocracy (as a form of government): civitas, quae optimatium arbitrio regitur
    
  • democracy: imperium populi or populare, civitas or res publica popularis
    
  • to banish a person, send him into exile: ex urbe (civitate) expellere, pellere aliquem
    
  • to banish a person, send him into exile: de, e civitate aliquem eicere
    
  • to expel a person from the city, country: exterminare (ex) urbe, de civitate aliquem (Mil. 37. 101)
    
  • to keep the citizens in servile subjection: civitatem servitute oppressam tenere (Dom. 51. 131)
    
  • to extort money from the communities: pecuniam cogere a civitatibus
    
  • to compel communities to provide troops: imperare milites civitatibus
    
  • to compel communities to provide hostages: obsides civitatibus imperare
    
• “civitas”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “civitas”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin