communis

From Old Latin co(m)moinis, from Proto-Italic *kommoinis, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s, from *mey- (“to change”).

Cognate with Proto-Germanic *gamainiz (“shared, communal; common”), related to immūnis, mūnia, mūnis, mūnus (compare Proto-Italic *moinos (“service”)).

commūnis (neuter commūne, comparative commūnior, adverb commūniter); third-declension two-termination adjective

common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together
Synonym: (common, ordinary) vulgāris
- 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.573–574:
  “[...] Troiae et patriae commūnis Erīnys,
  abdiderat sēsē atque ārīs invīsa sedēbat.”
  “[Helen,] the common Fury of Troy and of her homeland, had hidden herself and was cowering unseen beside the altars.”
  (See: Erinys.)
of or for the community, public
democratic; representing the common sentiment
(of manners) familiar, accessible, courteous
(grammar) having both qualities of a subdivided category, such as a verb with both an active and a passive meaning, or a syllable being either long or short.

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

More information singular, plural ...

	masc./fem.	neuter	masc./fem.	neuter
	singular		plural
nominative	commūnis	commūne	commūnēs	commūnia
genitive	commūnis		commūnium
dative	commūnī		commūnibus
accusative	commūnem	commūne	commūnēs commūnīs	commūnia
ablative	commūnī		commūnibus
vocative	commūnis	commūne	commūnēs	commūnia

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Gallo-Italic
- Piedmontese: comun
Italo-Dalmatian
- Italian: comune
- Sicilian: cumuni, cummuni
Occitano-Romance
- Catalan: comú
- Occitan: comun
Old French: comun
- French: commun
  - → Romanian: comun
- Norman: commun
- → Middle English: comun
  - English: common
Rhaeto-Romance
- Friulian: comun
Venetan: comùn
West Iberian
- Old Galician-Portuguese:
  - Galician: común
  - Portuguese: comum
- Spanish: común

“communis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“communis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
communis 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)
communis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to considerably (in no way) further the common good: multum (nihil) ad communem utilitatem afferre
- to accommodate something to the standard of the popular intelligence: ad intellegentiam communem or popularem accommodare aliquid
- to express oneself in popular language: ad vulgarem sensum or ad communem opinionem orationem accommodare (Off. 2. 10. 35)
- (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