discipulus

Latin

Etymology

From dis- + Proto-Italic *kapelos (“one who takes”) corresponding to *dwiskapelos, from *kapiō (“take”) (whence capiō). Sense influenced by the unrelated verb discō (“learn”).

Compare typologically English apprentice derived from Latin apprehendō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [dɪsˈkɪ.pʊ.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [d̪iʃˈʃiː.pu.lus]

Noun

discipulus m (genitive discipulī); second declension

1. student, pupil, disciple, schoolboy
2. (military) cadet (student in a military school or state program)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	discipulus	discipulī
genitive	discipulī	discipulōrum
dative	discipulō	discipulīs
accusative	discipulum	discipulōs
ablative	discipulō	discipulīs
vocative	discipule	discipulī

Coordinate terms

• magister, magistra

Derived terms

• disciplīna
• discipulātus

Related terms

• disciplīnābilis
• disciplīnātus
• disciplīnōsus
• discipula

Descendants

• English: disciple
• Catalan: deixeble
• French: disciple
• Old Irish: deiscipul
  • Irish: deisceabal
  • Scottish Gaelic: deisciobal
• Italian: discepolo
• Norman: discipl'ye (Jersey)
• Old Galician-Portuguese: sêpolo, decipolo, discipulo
  • Portuguese: discípulo
• Romanian: discipol
• Spanish: discípulo
• Welsh: disgybl

Further reading

• “discipulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “discipulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "discipulus", 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)
• discipulus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.