familia
From Proto-Italic *fameljā (“of the house → household”), from earlier *θameljā.
In view of the semantic shift illustrated in the cognates, famulus (“servant, slave”) (with Oscan 𐌚𐌀𐌌𐌄𐌋 (famel, “servile”)) is probably a backformation from it and not the other way around. From Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁-m-eló-m (“fundament”), from *dʰeh₁- (“to do, put, place”). Cognate with Sanskrit धामन्(dhāman, “order; dwelling-place, temple; family”), Ancient Greek θεμέλιος (themélios, “of the foundation”), θέμις (thémis, “justice, law”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /faˈmi.li.a/, [fäˈmɪlʲiä]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /faˈmi.li.a/, [fäˈmiːliä]
Noun
familia f (genitive familiae); first declension
- a household (all persons subject to the control of one man (whether relations, freedmen or slaves))
- the slaves of a household, servants
- a group of slaves stationed in one place; a brigade, gang (used for some purpose)
- one's personal retinue
- a family, kin (a group of people closely related to one another) [ synonym ▲][ quotations ▼]
- Synonym: domus
- an intellectual school (e.g., of philosophy) [ synonym ▲]
- Synonym: domus
- (law) an estate (sometimes distinct from pecūnia and possibly restricted to rēs mancipī)
Usage notes
According to Richard Saller, “[f]amilia was never used to mean ‘father, mother and children’ in our sense of ‘family’ today. It did have a technical, legal usage akin to ‘family’, but in common parlance most often meant ‘slave staff’, exclusive of the master's family.... The usual word for ‘family’ in the classical period was domus, which carried the general sense of ‘household’ including domestic slaves.”[1]
Declension
First-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | familia | familiae |
| Genitive | familiae | familiārum |
| Dative | familiae | familiīs |
| Accusative | familiam | familiās |
| Ablative | familiā | familiīs |
| Vocative | familia | familiae |
The older genitive singular familiās is frequent in the expression pater familiās and the similar expressions with fīlius, māter, and fīlia as the first element.