commune

See also: Commune

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English commune, comune, from Old French comune, commune, from Medieval Latin commūnia, from Latin commūne (“community, state”), from commūnis (“common”). Doublet of comune. See also community, communion, common.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏm'yo͞on, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmjuːn/
• (US) enPR: käm'yo͞on, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmjuːn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

commune (countable and uncountable, plural communes)

1. A small community, often rural, whose members share in the ownership of property, and in the division of labour; the members of such a community.
   • 1975, Peter J. Seybolt, editor, The Rustication of Urban Youth in China‎^[1], published 2015, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 148:

     The town of Chu-chou in Hunan Province, carrying out the great directive of Chairman Mao that "educated youths must go to the villages," has put into practice factory-commune links, and under the leadership of cadres, has made a collective settlement of educated youths in commune and brigade farms, forest areas, and tea plantations.

2. A local political division in many European countries and in Chile.
3. (obsolete) The commonalty; the common people.
4. (uncountable, obsolete) Communion; sympathetic conversation between friends.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=Prologue or Rpilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX):

     For days of happy commune dead.

5. (historical) A self-governing city or league of citizens.
   • 1997, David Nicholas, The Growth of the Medieval City: From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century, →ISBN, page 161:

     In 1117 the commune and archbishop had separate consuls at Milan.

Derived terms

• communer
• communise
• communize
• excommune
• house-commune
• intercommune
• people's commune
• urban-rural commune

 

Translations

small community, often rural, whose members share in the ownership of property, and in the division of labour; the members of such a community

• Arabic: مَشَاعِيَّة f (mašāʕiyya)
• Armenian: համայնք (hy) (hamaynkʻ)
• Bulgarian: кому́на f (komúna)
• Finnish: kommuuni (fi)
• Greek: κοινόβιο (el) n (koinóvio)
• Hebrew: קבוצה \ קְבוּצָה (he) f (kvutsá), קיבוץ \ קִבּוּץ (he) m (kibúts)
• Ido: komono (io)
• Indonesian: komune (id)
• Khmer: ឃុំ (km) (khum), សង្កាត់ (km) (sɑngkat)
• Russian: общи́на (ru) f (obščína)
• Spanish: comuna (es) f
• Swedish: byalag

local political division in many European countries

• Albanian: komunë (sq)
• Armenian: կոմունա (hy) (komuna)
• Bulgarian: община́ f (obštiná)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 市镇 (si⁵ zan³)

  Mandarin: 市镇 (zh) (shìzhèn)

• Corsican: cumune m, cumuna f
• Czech: obec (cs) f
• Danish: kommune (da) c
• Dutch: gemeente (nl)
• Finnish: kunta (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: comena
• French: commune (fr) f
• German: Gemeinde (de) f, Kommune (de) f
• Greek: κοινότητα (el) f (koinótita)
• Icelandic: sveitarfélag
• Indonesian: komune (id)
• Italian: comune (it) m, comuna f
• Khmer: សង្កាត់ (km) (sɑngkat), ឃុំ (km) (khum)
• Lithuanian: savivaldybė (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Gemeng (lb)
• Macedonian: општина f (opština)
• Occitan: comuna (oc) f
• Persian: کمون (fa) (komun), دهستان (fa) (dehestan)
• Polish: gmina (pl) f
• Portuguese: freguesia (pt), município (pt)
• Romanian: comună (ro) f, municipiu (ro)
• Russian: комму́на (ru) f (kommúna), общи́на (ru) f (obščína)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏пћина f

  Roman: ȍpćina f

• Slovak: obec (sk) f
• Slovene: občina
• Spanish: comuna (es) f, municipio (es) m
• Swedish: kommun (sv)
• Turkish: komün (tr)
• Ukrainian: громада (uk) (hromada)
• Vietnamese: thị trấn (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} kommúna f

Etymology 2

From Middle English communen, comunen, from Old French comunier, communier (“to share”), from Latin commūnico. Doublet of communicate.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kəmyo͞on', IPA^(key): /kəˈmjuːn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːn

Verb

commune (third-person singular simple present communes, present participle communing, simple past and past participle communed)

1. To converse together with sympathy and confidence; to interchange sentiments or feelings; to take counsel.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     I would commune with you of such things / That want no ear but yours.

2. (intransitive, followed by with) To communicate (with) spiritually; to be together (with); to contemplate or absorb.

   He spent a week in the backcountry, communing with nature.

3. (Christianity, intransitive) To receive the communion.
   • 1681, Gilbert Burnet, “[A Collection of Records, and Original Papers; with Other Instruments Referred to in the Second Part of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England.] Book I.”, in The History of the Reformation of the Church of England. The Second Part, […], London: […] T[homas] H[odgkin] for Richard Chiswell, […], →OCLC, page 207:

     Namely, in these things, in prohibiting that none should commune alone, in making the People whole Communers, or in suffering them to Commune under both kinds […]

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch commune, from Old French commune, from Latin communia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɔˈmynə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mu‧ne
• Rhymes: -ynə

Noun

commune f (plural communes, diminutive communetje n)

1. a commune (community living together with common property)

Descendants

• → Indonesian: komune

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.myn/

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Medieval Latin communia, neuter plural of communis.

Noun

commune f (plural communes)

1. commune (administrative subdivision)

Descendants

• → Danish: kommune
• → German: Kommune
• → Norwegian Bokmål: kommune
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: kommune
• → Persian: کمون (komun)
• → Russian: комму́на (kommúna)
• → Swedish: kommun
• → Turkish: komün

Etymology 2

Adjective

commune

1. feminine singular of commun

Further reading

• “commune”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Adjective

commune (plural communi)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of comune

Noun

commune m (plural communi)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of comune

Derived terms

• communità

Latin

Noun

commūne n (genitive commūnis); third declension

1. joint, common or public property and rights
2. public places and interests
3. common feature, characteristic, general rule or terms
4. general
5. (Medieval Latin) league or corporation of citizens
6. (Medieval Latin) a universal tax

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	commūne	commūnia
genitive	commūnis	commūnium
dative	commūnī	commūnibus
accusative	commūne	commūnia
ablative	commūnī	commūnibus
vocative	commūne	commūnia

Adjective

commūne

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of commūnis

References

• “commune”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “commune”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• commune in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• commune in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) we know from experience: usu rerum (vitae, vitae communis) edocti sumus
    
  • (ambiguous) unanimously: uno, communi, summo or omnium consensu (Tusc. 1. 15. 35)
    
  • (ambiguous) the ordinary usage of language, everyday speech: communis sermonis consuetudo
    
  • (ambiguous) to be always considering what people think: multum communi hominum opinioni tribuere
    
• Online Latin dictionary, Olivetti

Middle English

Noun

commune

1. commons; citizenry
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Clerk's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 69-70:

     [...] Biloved and drad, thurgh favour of fortune,
     Bothe of his lordes and of his commune.

     [...] Beloved and feared, through favor of fortune,
     Both by his lords and by his citizenry.