vulgus

Latin

Alternative forms

• volgus

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to throng, crowd”), see also Welsh gwala (“sufficiency, enough”), Middle Breton gwalc'h (“abundance”), Ancient Greek εἴλω (eílō, “to roll up, pack close”), Sanskrit वर्ग (varga, “group, division”), Latin volvō.

Some have attempted, without success, to link it to Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-go, whence English folk.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈwul.ɡus/, [ˈwʊɫ̪.ɡʊs]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvul.ɡus/

Noun

vulgus n sg or m sg (genitive vulgī); second declension

1. (uncountable) the common people
2. (uncountable) the public
3. throng, crowd
4. gathering

Declension

Second declension, usually nominative/accusative/vocative in -us.

Case	Singular
Nominative	vulgus
Genitive	vulgī
Dative	vulgō
Accusative	vulgus vulgum
Ablative	vulgō
Vocative	vulgus vulge

Second declension neuter, nominative/accusative/vocative in -us. Also rarely encountered as a regular masculine second declension noun.

There is also the heteroclitic ablative singular vulgū.

Synonyms

• (crowd): multitūdō, turba

Derived terms

• vulgāris
• vulgārius
• vulgivagus
• vulgō

Related terms

• vulgāritās
• vulgāriter
• vulgātē
• vulgātor
• vulgātus

Descendants

• Galician: vulgo
• Italian: volgo
• Portuguese: vulgo

• Romanian: vulg
• Sicilian: vulgu
• Spanish: vulgo

References

• vulgus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vulgus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• vulgus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to divulge, make public: efferre or edere aliquid in vulgus
    
  • to be a subject for gossip: in ora vulgi abire
    
  • a demagogue, agitator: plebis dux, vulgi turbator, civis turbulentus, civis rerum novarum cupidus