villanus

villanus

Latin

Etymology

From vīlla +‎ -ānus (adjectival suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /vilˈla.nus/, [vilˈläːnus]

Adjective

vīllānus (feminine vīllāna, neuter vīllānum); first/second-declension adjective (Medieval Latin)

1. Of or pertaining to a vill, town or city.
2. Of or pertaining to a village or the countryside.
3. Of or pertaining to villeinage.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	vīllānus	vīllāna	vīllānum		vīllānī	vīllānae	vīllāna
Genitive	vīllānī	vīllānae	vīllānī		vīllānōrum	vīllānārum	vīllānōrum
Dative	vīllānō		vīllānō		vīllānīs
Accusative	vīllānum	vīllānam	vīllānum		vīllānōs	vīllānās	vīllāna
Ablative	vīllānō	vīllānā	vīllānō		vīllānīs
Vocative	vīllāne	vīllāna	vīllānum		vīllānī	vīllānae	vīllāna

Noun

vīllānus m (genitive vīllānī); second declension (Medieval Latin)

1. A villein: a serf or bondsman of a manorial lord.
2. A villager or other rural resident (opposed to burgensis).
3. A townsman.
4. (Anglo-Saxon England) A churl or geneat: a free peasant or retainer.
5. (Spain) A type of freeman, lower-ranking than an infanzón.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vīllānus	vīllānī
Genitive	vīllānī	vīllānōrum
Dative	vīllānō	vīllānīs
Accusative	vīllānum	vīllānōs
Ablative	vīllānō	vīllānīs
Vocative	vīllāne	vīllānī

Descendants

• Italian: villano
• Old French: vilain, vilein; villein
  • French: vilain
  • Norman: vilain
  • → Middle English: vilein
    • English: villain
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: vilà
  • Occitan: vilan
• Old Portuguese: vilão
  • Galician: vilán
  • Portuguese: vilão
• Piedmontese: vilan
• Sicilian: viḍḍanu
• Spanish: villano

References

• Smith, William Charles (1878), "Borough" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 62: “The burgensis, or inhabitant of a walled town, was opposed to villanus, or inhabitant of the villa, or open town.”
• villani in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “villanus”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎, London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, OCLC 1369101
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “villanus”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, pages 1103–4