paganus

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-der.

Proto-Italic *pāgos

Latin pāgus

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Italic *-nos

Latin -nus

Latin -ānus

Latin paganus

From pāgus (“area outside of a city, countryside”) + -ānus (“of or pertaining to”, adjective-forming suffix).

Compare typologically agrestis, rūsticus. See cīvīlis for more.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [paːˈɡaː.nʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [paˈɡaː.nus]

Adjective

pāgānus (feminine pāgāna, neuter pāgānum); first/second-declension adjective

1. of or pertaining to the countryside, rural, rustic
2. (by extension) rustic, unlearned
3. (Medieval Latin, Christianity) pagan, heathen

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	pāgānus	pāgāna	pāgānum		pāgānī	pāgānae	pāgāna
genitive	pāgānī	pāgānae	pāgānī		pāgānōrum	pāgānārum	pāgānōrum
dative	pāgānō	pāgānae	pāgānō		pāgānīs
accusative	pāgānum	pāgānam	pāgānum		pāgānōs	pāgānās	pāgāna
ablative	pāgānō	pāgānā	pāgānō		pāgānīs
vocative	pāgāne	pāgāna	pāgānum		pāgānī	pāgānae	pāgāna

Derived terms

• pāgānismus
• pāgānitās
• sēmipāgānus

Related terms

• pāgānicus
• pāgātim
• pāgus

Descendants

• Anglo-Norman: paien
• Aromanian: pãngãn
• Asturian: paganu
• Catalan: pagà
• French: païen
• Friulian: paian, pajan
• Italian: pagano
• Megleno-Romanian: păgǫn
• Occitan: pagan
• Old Galician-Portuguese: pagão
  • Galician: pagán
  • Portuguese: pagão
• Romanian: păgân
• Sicilian: paganu, pajanu, pavanu
• Spanish: pagano
• Venetan: pagàn

Borrowings into other languages:

• → Albanian: pëganë, pëgërë, pagan
• → Czech: pohan
  • → Polish: poganin
• → English: pagan
• → Estonian: pagan
• → Irish: págán
• → Proto-Germanic: *haiþīnaz (semantic loan) (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Church Slavonic: поганъ (poganŭ)
• → Old East Slavic: поганъ (poganŭ)
  • Russian: поганый (poganyj)
  • Ukrainian: поганий (pohanyj)
• → Serbo-Croatian: pogan
  • → Hungarian: pogány
  • → Romanian: pogan
• → Slovene: pohan
• → Turkish: pagan
• → Welsh: pagan

Noun

pāgānus m (genitive pāgānī); second declension

1. villager, countryman
   • 57 BCE, Cicero, De domo sua 28.74
2. civilian (as opposed to soldier)
   • 61 CE – c. 112 CE, Plinius Minor, Epistulae 10.18
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) heathen, pagan

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	pāgānus	pāgānī
genitive	pāgānī	pāgānōrum
dative	pāgānō	pāgānīs
accusative	pāgānum	pāgānōs
ablative	pāgānō	pāgānīs
vocative	pāgāne	pāgānī

References

• “paganus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “paganus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "paganus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “paganus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “paganus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers