leguleius

Latin

Etymology

From lēx (“law”) +‎ -uleius.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /leː.ɡuˈlei̯.i̯us/, [ɫ̪eːɡʊˈɫ̪ɛi̯ːʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /le.ɡuˈle.jus/, [leɡuˈlɛːjus]

Noun

lēguleius m (genitive lēguleiī or lēguleī); second declension

1. (often derogatory) a procedural lawyer, one expert in formal technicalities

   Synonym: fōrmulārius

   • 55 BCE, Cicero, De Oratore 1.236.7:

     Ita est tibi iūris cōnsultus ipse per sē nihil nisi lēguleius quīdam cautus et acūtus, praecō āctiōnum, cantor fōrmulārum, auceps syllabārum

     And as a result, a lawyer in and of himself ends up being merely some kind of diligent and shrewd legal tradesman, a crier of legal actions, a singer of legal formulas, a trapper of syllables.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lēguleius	lēguleiī
genitive	lēguleiī lēguleī1	lēguleiōrum
dative	lēguleiō	lēguleiīs
accusative	lēguleium	lēguleiōs
ablative	lēguleiō	lēguleiīs
vocative	lēguleie	lēguleiī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• → Italian: leguleio
• → Polish: legulej
• → Portuguese: leguleio, legulejo
• → Spanish: leguleyo

See also

• rabula

Further reading

• “lēgulēius” on page 1116 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• “leguleius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “leguleius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• leguleius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.