urbs

English

Etymology

From Latin urbs.

Noun

urbs (plural urbes)

1. A walled city in Ancient Rome.

Anagrams

• rubs, srub, RUBs, burs, brus, Brus, Burs

Latin

urbs (a city)

Etymology

Uncertain.

• From Proto-Italic *worβis, from Proto-Indo-European *werbʰ- (“to enclose”) (compare Umbrian 𐌖𐌄𐌓𐌚𐌀𐌋𐌄 (uerfale, “area for taking auspices”), Hittite [script needed] (warpa-, “enclosure”), Tocharian A warpi (“garden”), Tocharian B werwiye (“garden”)).
• Derivation from Proto-Indo-European *gʰórdʰos (“city”) (from *gʰerdʰ- (“to enclose”), whence e.g. Hittite [script needed] (gurtas, “citadel”) Sanskrit गृह (gṛhá, “house”), English yard) has been proposed, but suffers from irregularities; *horbus would be rather expected.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /urbs/, [ʊrps̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /urbs/, [urbs]

Noun

urbs f (genitive urbis); third declension

1. a city, walled town

   Urbi ferro flammāque minatus est.

   He threatened the city with fire and sword.

   • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam :

     O di immortales, ubinam gentium sumus? Quam rem publicam habemus? In qua urbe vivimus?

     O immortal gods, where on earth are we? What government do we have? In what city do we live?

2. the City, Rome

   Ab urbe condita.

   From the founding of the City.

   Urbi et orbi.

   To the City and the world.

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.7:

     Caesari cum id nuntiatum esset, eos per provinciam nostram iter facere conari, maturat ab urbe proficisci et quam maximis potest itineribus in Galliam ulteriorem contendit et ad Genavam pervenit.

     When it was reported to Caesar that they were attempting to march through our province he hastened to set out from the City, and, by as great marches as he could, proceeded to Further Gaul, and arrived at Geneva.

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	urbs	urbēs urbīs
Genitive	urbis	urbium
Dative	urbī	urbibus
Accusative	urbem	urbīs urbēs
Ablative	urbe	urbibus
Vocative	urbs	urbēs

Derived terms

• suburbium
• urbānātim
• urbānē
• urbāniciānus
• urbānitās
• urbānus
• urbicapus
• urbicārius
• urbicremus
• urbicus
• Urbīnum

 

Descendants

• Inherited:
  • Old Lombard: orba (“Rome”)
• Borrowed:
  • → Esperanto: urbo
  • → Ido: urbo
  • → Italian: urbe, Urbe
  • → Portuguese: urbe
  • → Romanian: urbe
  • → Spanish: urbe

References

• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “ŭrbs”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 691

Further reading

• “urbs”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “urbs”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• urbs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the heart of the city: sinus urbis (Sall. Cat. 52. 35)
    
  • to set fire to a city: inflammare urbem
    
  • the city is very beautifully situated: urbs situ ad aspectum praeclara est
    
  • the city is situate on a bay: urbs in sinu sita est
    
  • to be far from town: longe, procul abesse ab urbe
    
  • to enter a city: ingredi, intrare urbem, introire in urbem
    
  • arrival in Rome, in town: adventus Romam, in urbem
    
  • to draw near to a city: appropinquare urbi, rarely ad urbem
    
  • to advance nearer to the city: propius accedere ad urbem or urbem
    
  • in the fifth year from the founding of the city: anno ab urbe condita quinto
    
  • native place: urbs patria or simply patria
    
  • the plague breaks out in the city: pestilentia (not pestis) in urbem (populum) invadit
    
  • a report is spreading imperceptibly: fama serpit (per urbem)
    
  • after having duly taken the auspices: auspicato (rem gerere, urbem condere)
    
  • to banish a person, send him into exile: ex urbe (civitate) expellere, pellere aliquem
    
  • to expel a person from the city, country: exterminare (ex) urbe, de civitate aliquem (Mil. 37. 101)
    
  • to garrison a town: praesidiis firmare urbem
    
  • to garrison a town: praesidium collocare in urbe
    
  • to raise a siege (used of the army of relief): urbis obsidionem liberare