urbs

From Latin urbs.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɜːbz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɝbz/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)bz

urbs (plural urbes)

1. A walled city in Ancient Rome.

• rubs, srub, RUBs, burs, brus, Brus, Burs

Uncertain.

• From Proto-Italic *worβis, from Proto-Indo-European *werbʰ- (“to enclose”) (compare Umbrian 𐌖𐌄𐌓𐌚𐌀𐌋𐌄 (uerfale, “area for taking auspices”), Hittite [script needed] (warpa-, “enclosure”), Tocharian A warpi (“garden”), Tocharian B werwiye (“garden”)).^[1]
• Derivation from Proto-Indo-European *gʰórdʰos (“city”) (from *gʰerdʰ- (“to enclose”), whence e.g. Hittite [script needed] (gurtas, “citadel”) Sanskrit गृह (gṛhá, “house”), English yard) has been proposed,^[2] but suffers from irregularities; *horbus would be rather expected.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈʊrps]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈurbs]

urbs f (genitive urbis); third declension

1. a city, walled town

   Urbī ferrō flammāque minātus est.

   He threatened the city with fire and sword.

   • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam:

     Ō dī immortālēs, ubinam gentium sumus? Quam rem pūblicam habēmus? In quā urbe vīvimus?

     O immortal gods, where on earth are we? What government do we have? In what city do we live?

2. the City, Rome

   Ab urbe conditā.

   From the founding of the City.

   Urbī et orbī.

   To the City and the world.

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.7:

     Caesarī cum id nūntiātum esset, eōs per prōvinciam nostram iter facere cōnārī, mātūrat ab urbe proficīscī et quam maximīs potest itineribus in Galliam ulteriōrem contendit et ad Genāvam pervēnit.

     When it was reported to Caesar that they were attempting to march through our province he hastened to set out from the City, and, by as great marches as he could, proceeded to Further Gaul, and arrived at Geneva.

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Nominative/accusative/vocative plural urbīs is rare.

• Inherited:
  • Old Lombard: orba (“Rome”)
• Borrowed:
  • → English: urbs
  • → Esperanto: urbo
  • → Ido: urbo
  • → Italian: urbe, Urbe
  • → Portuguese: urbe
  • → Romanian: urbe
  • → Spanish: urbe

• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911), “ŭrbs”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 691

• “urbs”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “urbs”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “urbs”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the heart of the city: sinus urbis (Sall. Cat. 52. 35)
    
  • to set fire to a city: inflammare urbem
    
  • the city is very beautifully situated: urbs situ ad aspectum praeclara est
    
  • the city is situate on a bay: urbs in sinu sita est
    
  • to be far from town: longe, procul abesse ab urbe
    
  • to enter a city: ingredi, intrare urbem, introire in urbem
    
  • arrival in Rome, in town: adventus Romam, in urbem
    
  • to draw near to a city: appropinquare urbi, rarely ad urbem
    
  • to advance nearer to the city: propius accedere ad urbem or urbem
    
  • in the fifth year from the founding of the city: anno ab urbe condita quinto
    
  • native place: urbs patria or simply patria
    
  • the plague breaks out in the city: pestilentia (not pestis) in urbem (populum) invadit
    
  • a report is spreading imperceptibly: fama serpit (per urbem)
    
  • after having duly taken the auspices: auspicato (rem gerere, urbem condere)
    
  • to banish a person, send him into exile: ex urbe (civitate) expellere, pellere aliquem
    
  • to expel a person from the city, country: exterminare (ex) urbe, de civitate aliquem (Mil. 37. 101)
    
  • to garrison a town: praesidiis firmare urbem
    
  • to garrison a town: praesidium collocare in urbe
    
  • to raise a siege (used of the army of relief): urbis obsidionem liberare