rusticus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *rowestikos. Equivalent to rūs +‎ -ticus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈruːs.ti.kus/, [ˈruːs̠t̪ɪkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈrus.ti.kus/, [ˈrust̪ikus]

Adjective

rūsticus (feminine rūstica, neuter rūsticum); first/second-declension adjective

1. of the country, rural, rustic
   • 80 BCE, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Sex. Roscio Amerino, XV.42:

     'Nescio' inquit 'quae causa odi fuerit; fuisse odium intellego qui antea, cum duos filios haberet, illum alterum qui mortuus est secum omni tempore volebat esse, hunc in praedia rustica relegarat.'

     'I know not', says he, 'what cause for displeasure there was; but I know that displeasure existed; because formerly, when he had two sons, he chose that other one, who is dead, to be at all times with himself, but sent this other one to his country farms.'

   • 30 BCE, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Satirae, Liber II.6:

     Olim rusticus urbanum murem mus paupere fertur accepisse cavo...

     It is told that once upon a time a country mouse in his poor burrow received a city mouse...

2. (figuratively) unrefined, boorish, coarse
   • 55 BCE, Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Oratore, Liber III, XI.42:

     ...rustica vox et agrestis quosdam delectat...

     ...a boorish and rude voice delights certain men...

   • 42 BCE, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Epistularum ad Familiares, Liber XVI, 21:

     ...rusticus Romanus factus es.

     ...you were made a Roman farmer.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	rūsticus	rūstica	rūsticum		rūsticī	rūsticae	rūstica
Genitive	rūsticī	rūsticae	rūsticī		rūsticōrum	rūsticārum	rūsticōrum
Dative	rūsticō		rūsticō		rūsticīs
Accusative	rūsticum	rūsticam	rūsticum		rūsticōs	rūsticās	rūstica
Ablative	rūsticō	rūsticā	rūsticō		rūsticīs
Vocative	rūstice	rūstica	rūsticum		rūsticī	rūsticae	rūstica

Synonyms

• agrestis

Antonyms

• urbānus

Derived terms

• rūsticānus
• rūsticē
• rūsticitās

Descendants

• Catalan: rústec, → rústic
• → Dutch: rustiek
• → English: rustic
• → French: rustique
• Italian: rustico
• Ligurian: rùstego
• Old French: rustre
  • French: rustre
  • → English: roister
• Piedmontese: rùstich
• Portuguese: rústico
• Romanian: rustic
• Spanish: rústico
• Venetian: rùstego

Noun

rūsticus m (genitive rūsticī); second declension

1. farmer, peasant, rustic
2. (figuratively) a boor

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	rūsticus	rūsticī
Genitive	rūsticī	rūsticōrum
Dative	rūsticō	rūsticīs
Accusative	rūsticum	rūsticōs
Ablative	rūsticō	rūsticīs
Vocative	rūstice	rūsticī

References

• “rusticus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “rusticus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• rusticus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • tillage; cultivation: opus rusticum
    
  • (ambiguous) country life (the life of resident farmers, etc.: vita rustica
    
• “rusticus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “rusticus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray