Adjective: paulus
Hyphenation:
Declension: First, Second
Nominative
| Singular masc. | paulus |
| Singular fem. | paula |
| Singular neut. | paulum |
| Plural masc. | paulī |
| Plural fem. | paulae |
| Plural neut. | paula |
Genitive
| Singular masc. | paulī |
| Singular fem. | paulae |
| Singular neut. | paulī |
| Plural masc. | paulōrum |
| Plural fem. | paulārum |
| Plural neut. | paulōrum |
Dative
| Singular masc. | paulō |
| Singular fem. | paulae |
| Singular neut. | paulō |
| Plural masc. | paulīs |
| Plural fem. | paulīs |
| Plural neut. | paulīs |
Accusative
| Singular masc. | paulum |
| Singular fem. | paulam |
| Singular neut. | paulum |
| Plural masc. | paulōs |
| Plural fem. | paulās |
| Plural neut. | paula |
Ablative
| Singular masc. | paulō |
| Singular fem. | paulā |
| Singular neut. | paulō |
| Plural masc. | paulīs |
| Plural fem. | paulīs |
| Plural neut. | paulīs |
Vocative
| Singular masc. | paule |
| Singular fem. | paula |
| Singular neut. | paulum |
| Plural masc. | paulī |
| Plural fem. | paulae |
| Plural neut. | paula |
Comparison
Sample Sentences
Adjectives inflected like paulus
palmātus,
rēctangulus,
ursīnus,
palmōsus,
negātōrius,
Cimmerius,
fēlīnus,
deltoīdeus,
flūctifragus,
Colōnēus,
recordātīvus,
erēmīticus,
nūnciātōrius,
idōneus,
carcinophagus,
servus,
sentus,
imāginōsus,
chelīdonius,
foetulentus, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)
Etymology
1. From earlier paullus, likely from Proto-Italic *paukslos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, small”) + *-ko- + *-slom, the first two elements also giving Latin paucus (“few”).
2. Details
3. Cf. the proportions paullus :: paucus like axis :: āla like veicus :: veilla, and with diminutives paullus :: pauxillus like āla :: āxilla like aulla :: auxilla. veilla and aulla showcase the same development of /diphthong + ks/ as the present word. māla, vēlum, pālus are further examples of words formed with the same suffixes.
4. Against this, De Vaan (2008) notes that "the suffix *-slo- is otherwise only used for instrument nouns, and only after consonant stems; both are reasons to reject a preform *pauk-slo- derived from *pau-ko-", and quotes Thurneysen (1907: 177) as deriving it from Proto-Italic *paurelos, from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂uros, also from *peh₂w-.
5. However, the regular development of the cluster /wr/ is metathesis, as in parvus, and just this is attested in parvulus. It's difficult to envision a split outcome of metathesis for the base form and its morphologically transparent diminutive (cf. the systematic parallels above). The "instrument nouns" objection can be countered with the striking parallel in pullus (“animal young”) :: pusillus (“tiny”) and by the cross-linguistic tendency to refer to the young with neuter or otherwise objectifying nouns (cf. German -chen); the precise meaning of the suffix also need not have been an instrument.
6. Further related to Latin pauper, puer, Ancient Greek παῦρος (paûros), English few. See: Latin Adjectives '
paucus', Latin Adjectives '
pauper'.
Translations