dominus

See also: Dominus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dominus (“master”). Doublet of dom, domine, dominie, and don.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɒmɪnəs/

Noun

dominus (plural domini)

1. master; sir; a title of respect formerly applied to a knight or clergyman, and sometimes to the lord of a manor or an academic master
   • January 1848, The New Sporting Magazine, volume 15, page 23:

     The vesper bell had rung its parting note; the domini were mostly caged in comfortable quarters, discussing the merits of old port; and the merry student had closed his oak, to consecrate the night to friendship, sack, and claret.

Related terms

• domina
• donzel

Further reading

• Dominus (title) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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 “dominus” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

• dimuons

---

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /doˈminus/

Verb

dominus

1. conditional of domini

---

Latin

Etymology

• from Proto-Italic *dom-o/u-nos (“of the house”); both u- and o-stems are found in other branches;
• from Proto-Italic *domanos, from Proto-Indo-European *domh₂nos (“subduing”), from *demh₂- (“to domesticate, tame”), whence also domō.

In either case, likely further related to domus, from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“to build”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdo.mi.nus/, [ˈd̪ɔmɪnʊs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdo.mi.nus/, [ˈd̪ɔːminus]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

dominus m (genitive dominī, feminine domina); second declension

1. a master, possessor, ruler, lord, proprietor

   Synonyms: erus, domnus, arbiter

2. an owner of a residence; the master of its servants and slaves
3. the master of a feast, the entertainer, host
4. the master of a play or of public games, the employer of players or gladiators
5. sir (greeting, in the vocative case)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dominus	dominī
Genitive	dominī	dominōrum
Dative	dominō	dominīs
Accusative	dominum	dominōs
Ablative	dominō	dominīs
Vocative	domine	dominī

Derived terms

• domicellus
• domina
• domināns
• dominanter
• dominātiō
• dominātor
• dominātrīx
• dominātus
• dominellus
• dominicus
• dominiōnus
• dominium
• dominius
• dominor
• Dominus
• dominus patriae
• dominus plebis
• dominus terrae
• domnus

 

Descendants

• ⇒ Late Latin: domnus
  • ⇒ Late Latin: dom
    • Old Spanish: don
      • Spanish: don
        • → Catalan: don
        • → Czech: don
        • → Tagalog: Don
  • Aragonese: dueño
  • Aromanian: domnu
  • Galician: dono, don
  • Italian: donno, don
    • → French: dom
  • Portuguese: dono
  • Romanian: domn
  • Sicilian: don, ron
  • Spanish: dueño
• ⇒ Medieval Latin: dominō (from the dative, possibly from benedīcāmus Dominō)
  • → Spanish: dominó
    • → Tagalog: dóminó
  • → French: domino (see there for further descendants)
• → Basque: done
• Catalan: don
• → Dutch: dominee (from the vocative)
• → English: domine, dominie, dominus, don
• Italian: domino
• Old French: dam
• Portuguese: Dom

References

• “dominus” on page 571 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “domus, dominus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 177-179

Further reading

• “dominus”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• “dominus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• dominus 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)
• dŏmĭnus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 555
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the manager: dominus gregis
    
  • to examine slaves by torture: de servis quaerere (in dominum)
    
• “dominus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “dominus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “dominus”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: Brill, pages 353–4