pulvis

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“flour, dust”), related to pollen, Russian пепел (pepel), Old Church Slavonic попелъ (popelŭ), пепелъ (pepelŭ), Lithuanian pelenai, Sanskrit पलाल (palāla), and Ancient Greek πάλη (pálē, “dust, meal”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpul.wis/, [ˈpʊɫ.wɪs]

Noun

pulvis m (genitive pulveris); third declension

1. dust, powder
2. (figuratively) an arena, place of contest

Inflection

Third declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pulvis	pulverēs
Genitive	pulveris	pulverum
Dative	pulverī	pulveribus
Accusative	pulverem	pulverēs
Ablative	pulvere	pulveribus
Vocative	pulvis	pulverēs

Derived terms

• pulverulentus
• pulvisia

Descendants

• Albanian: bulbër (borrowed)
• Aromanian: pulbiri, pulbire
• Asturian: polvu
• Catalan: pols
• Dalmatian: pulvro
• Dutch: poeder, pulver (borrowed)
• English: powder, pulverize (borrowed)
• French: poussière, poudre
• Friulian: polvar
• Galician: po, pólvora
• German: Pulver, Puder (borrowed)
• Guinea-Bissau Creole: po, puera (borrowed)
• Ido: polvo (borrowed)
• Irish: púdar (borrowed)
• Italian: polvere
• Kabuverdianu: puera (borrowed)
• Occitan: polvèra
• Old French: pous, poudre
• Old Portuguese: poo
• Papiamentu: puiru (borrowed)
• Portuguese: pólvora, pó, poeira
• Romanian: pulbere
• Romansch: pulvra, puorla
• Sardinian: peure, pruine
• Sicilian: pùrviri, pùrvuli
• Spanish: pólvora, polvo
• Swedish: pulver (borrowed)
• Venetian: polvar, polvere
• Walloon: poure, poude

References

• pulvis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pulvis in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pulvis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• pulvis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette