commune

See also: Commune

English

Etymology 1

From French commune, from Medieval Latin commūnia, from Latin commūne (“community, state”), from commūnis (“common”). See also community, communion, common.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏm'yo͞on, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmjuːn/
• (US) enPR: käm'yo͞on, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmjuːn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

commune (plural communes)

1. A small community, often rural, whose members share in the ownership of property, and in the division of labour; the members of such a community.
2. A local political division in many European countries.
3. (obsolete) The commonalty; the common people.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

4. (obsolete) communion; sympathetic intercourse or conversation between friends
   • Tennyson

     For days of happy commune dead.

Translations

small community, often rural, whose members share in the ownership of property, and in the division of labour; the members of such a community

• Greek: κοινόβιο (el) n (koinóvio)
• Hebrew: קְבוּצָה‏‎ (he) f (qvutzá), קִבּוּץ‏‎ (he) m (qibbútz)
• Khmer: ឃុំ (km) (kʰum), សង្កាត់ (km) (sɑngkat)

• Russian: общи́на (ru) f (obščína)
• Spanish: comuna (es) f
• Swedish: byalag

local political division in many European countries

• Danish: kommune (da) c
• Franco-Provençal: comena
• Greek: κοινότητα (el) f (koinótita)
• Khmer: សង្កាត់ (km) (sɑngkat), ឃុំ (km) (kʰum)

• Occitan: comuna f
• Russian: комму́на (ru) f (kommúna), общи́на (ru) f (obščína)
• Spanish: comuna (es) f, municipio (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} комуна (komuna)

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} kommúna f

Etymology 2

From Old French comuner (“to share”), from Latin commūnis.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kəmyo͞on', IPA^(key): /kəˈmjuːn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

commune (third-person singular simple present communes, present participle communing, simple past and past participle communed)

1. To converse together with sympathy and confidence; to interchange sentiments or feelings; to take counsel.
   • Shakespeare

     I would commune with you of such things / That want no ear but yours.

2. (intransitive, followed by with) To communicate (with) spiritually; to be together (with); to contemplate or absorb.

   He spent a week in the backcountry, communing with nature.

3. To receive the communion.
   • Bishop Gilbert Burnet

     Namely, in these things, in prohibiting that none should commune alone, in making the people whole communers, or in suffering them to commune under both kinds […]

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French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin communia, neuter plural of Latin communis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔmyn/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

commune f (plural communes)

1. commune (administrative subdivision)

Descendants

• Russian: комму́на f (kommúna)

Adjective

commune

1. feminine singular of commun

Derived terms

• sans commune mesure

Further reading

• “commune” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Adjective

commune (masculine and feminine plural communi)

1. Obsolete form of comune.

Noun

commune m (plural communi)

1. Obsolete form of comune.

Derived terms

• communità

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Latin

Adjective

commūne

1. nominative neuter singular of commūnis
2. accusative neuter singular of commūnis
3. vocative neuter singular of commūnis

References

• commune in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• commune in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “commune”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• “commune” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) we know from experience: usu rerum (vitae, vitae communis) edocti sumus
    
  • (ambiguous) unanimously: uno, communi, summo or omnium consensu (Tusc. 1. 15. 35)
    
  • (ambiguous) the ordinary usage of language, everyday speech: communis sermonis consuetudo
    
  • (ambiguous) to be always considering what people think: multum communi hominum opinioni tribuere