principia

See also: principiá

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin prī̆ncipia.

Noun

principia pl (normally plural, singular principium)

1. (archaic) First principles; elementary material.
   • 1776, Thomas Pownall, in a letter to the economist Adam Smith

     I do really think, that your book […] might become an institute, containing the principia of those laws of motion, by which the system of the human community is framed and doth act […]

   • 1833, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Barbara S⁠——”, in The Last Essays of Elia. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 116:

     They were her principia, her rudiments; the elementary atoms; the little steps by which she pressed forward to perfection.

Related terms

• principial

Italian

Verb

principia

1. inflection of principiare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [priːŋˈkɪ.pi.a], [prɪŋˈkɪ.pi.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [prin̠ʲˈt͡ʃiː.pi.a]

Noun

prī̆ncipia

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of prī̆ncipium

References

• "principia", 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)
• “principia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “principia”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Verb

principia

1. inflection of principiar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾinˈθipja/ [pɾĩn̟ˈθi.pja] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /pɾinˈsipja/ [pɾĩnˈsi.pja] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -ipja
• Syllabification: prin‧ci‧pia

Verb

principia

1. inflection of principiar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative