rusticus

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *rewh₁os

Proto-Italic *rowos

Old Latin *rowos, *rowezos

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tos

Old Latin -tus

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Old Latin -icus

Old Latin -ticus

Old Latin *rowestikos

Latin rūsticus

From earlier *rowestikos, itself composed of *rowos, *rowezos + -ticus. The form *rowos continues Proto-Italic *rowos. Equivalent to rūs +‎ -ticus. Compare typologically agrestis, pāgānus. See cīvīlis for more.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈruːs.tɪ.kʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈrus.ti.kus]

Adjective

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

1. of the country, rural, rustic

   Synonym: agrestis

   Antonym: urbānus

   • 80 BCE, Cicero, Pro Roscio Amerino 15.42:

     '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.'

   • 65 BCE – 8 BCE, Horatius, Sermones (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, Cicero, De oratore 3.11.42:

     […] rustica vox et agrestis quosdam delectat […]

     […] a boorish and rude voice delights certain men […]

   • 62 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares 16.21:

     […] rusticus Romanus factus es.

     […] you were made a Roman farmer.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	rūsticus	rūstica	rūsticum		rūsticī	rūsticae	rūstica
genitive	rūsticī	rūsticae	rūsticī		rūsticōrum	rūsticārum	rūsticōrum
dative	rūsticō	rūsticae	rūsticō		rūsticīs
accusative	rūsticum	rūsticam	rūsticum		rūsticōs	rūsticās	rūstica
ablative	rūsticō	rūsticā	rūsticō		rūsticīs
vocative	rūstice	rūstica	rūsticum		rūsticī	rūsticae	rūstica

Derived terms

• rūsticānus
• rūsticātim
• rūsticē
• rūsticitās
• rūsticor
• rūsticulus

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
• Venetan: rùstego

Noun

rūsticus m (genitive rūsticī); second declension

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

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	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