The corpus record — Latin

famulus

servant, slave

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Oratio Consulis Ausonii Versibus Rhopalicis 1 · 47.39/10k
Panegyricus de quarto consulatu Honorii Augusti 2 · 5.05/10k
Panegyricus dictus Manlio Theodoro consuli 1 · 4.65/10k
Hercules 3 · 3.94/10k
Commemoratio professorum Burdigalensium 1 · 3.81/10k
Oedipus 2 · 3.37/10k
De Arte Poetica liber 1 · 3.24/10k
de bello Gildonico 1 · 3.16/10k
Historiam ecclesiasticam gentis Anglorum 16 · 2.27/10k
Silvae 5 · 2/10k
In Rufinum 1 · 1.75/10k
Peristephanon Liber 3 · 1.71/10k

Densest 12 of 52 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. famulus — de Vaan

famulus 'servant, slave' [m. ο] (Ρ1.+; nom.sg. famul Enn., Lucr., gen.pl. famulum Verg.) Derivatives: famula 'serving woman, maid' (Cic.+), famulanter 'in the manner of a servant' (Ace), famulitas 'servitude' (Pac.+); familia 'household, servants' (Lex XII+; gen.sg. usually familias), familiaris 'of one's household, private' (PI.+), — [de Vaan, s.v. famulus, p. 214]

2. fămŭlus — Lewis & Short

fămŭlus, i (an archaic form famul, Enn. ap. m., and fămŭla, ae (

Non. 110, 9; Lucr. 3, 1035 (al. 1048); for which cf. in the Oscan † famel: famuli origo ab Oscis dependet, apud quos servus famel nominabatur, unde et familia vocata, Paul. ex Fest. p. 87, 5 Müll.),

I gen. plur.: famulum, Stat. S. 3, 4, 57; Val. Fl. 1, 752; 3, 20; 282) f. Sanscr. root dhā, to lay, found; Gr. ti/-qh-mi; Osc. faama, house, v. Georg Curtius Gr. Etym. p. 254; cf. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 183, a servant, attendant; a maid - servant, handmaid (class.).

I Masc.: iis, qui vi oppressos imperio coërcent, sit sane adhibenda saevitia, ut heris in famulos, Cic. Off. 2, 7, 24; Enn. ap. Fest. p. 229 Müll. (Ann. v. 157 ed. Vahl.); Plaut. As. 1, 3, 32; id. Mil. 2, 3, 80; id. Stich. 2, 2, 71; Cic. Lael. 15, 55; id. Tusc. 2, 21, 48; id. Rep. 2, 21; Verg. A. 1, 701; Hor. C. 3, 17, 16; Ov. H. 20, 79 et saep.: Idaeae matris famuli, Cic. Leg. 2, 9, 21: sacrorum, Ov. M. 3, 574: dei alumni (Silenus), Hor. A. P. 239: sus erat infestae famulus vindexque Dianae, Ov. M. 8, 272; cf. Verg. A. 5, 95; of Actaeon's hounds, Ov. M. 3, 229; Vulg. Gen. 41, 12.—

II Fem.: quam famulae longe fugitant furtimque cachinnant, Lucr. 4, 1176; Verg. A. 1, 703; 4, 391; Juv. 14, 81 al.: si virtus famula fortunae est, Cic. Tusc. 5, 1, 2: res familiaris, quae est ministra et famula corporis, id. ib. 1, 31, 75; Vulg. Gen. 12, 16.

3. fămŭlus — Lewis & Short

fămŭlus, a, um, adj.1. famulus,

I serving, serviceable, servile (poet.; perh. not ante-Aug.): aquae, Ov. F. 1, 286: turbae, Sil. 13, 360: dextrae, Luc. 4, 207: manus, Sil. 10, 647: artus, Val. Fl. 1, 749: vertex, Ov. Pont. 2, 2, 80: catenae, Claud. in Ruf. 2, 386: ripae, id. III. Cons. Hon. 203.

4. famulus — Walde–Hofmann

famulus (alat. [Enn.] famul, Leumann-Stolz* 118), -i m. „Diener“ (seit Enn.; zum — künstlichen — Unterschied von servus s. Isid. diff. 1, 525; sek. Adj. seit Pompon., wohl nach servus, Schmalz’ 459), famula, -ae f. ,Dienerin* (seit Cie. Catull Luer.; alat. dafür ancilla, sek. seroa, Lommel Fem. 18, 20), familia, -ae f. , Gesinde"; sek. „Vermögen“ (vgl. res familiaris und die jurist. Vbdgg. familia hereiseunda … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. famulus, p. 484]

In the wild

famulorum Bede, Historiam ecclesiasticam gentis Anglorum 4.24.p2
famulus Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem 2.26
famulos Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem 5.15
famulus Seneca, Hercules 1
famulus Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1
famulus Lucan, Pharsalia 2.149

6 of 120 attestations shown.

Where it came from

de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. famulus (scan p. 214; entry #521).
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. famulus (scan p. 239; entry #3697).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. famulus (scan pp. 484-488; entry #1073). Root candidates: *famelo-, *ambhi-, *dhamjo-.

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.