Kilo Lingo

#414 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

commonly, generally; publicly, everywhere

Examples

dicitur.

This is commonly said.

creditur .

It is generally believed that the king is dead.

.

His name is commonly known.

loquebantur.

They were speaking openly in the forum.

.

The book is widely read throughout the city.

Vulgo is the ablative of vulgus, "the crowd", frozen into an adverb: "among the crowd", and so "commonly, generally, everywhere, in public". It is the standard tag for the popular name of a thing against its learned one, which is why plants, towns and saints across medieval Latin are all vulgo dictus something or other.

Do not confuse it with the verb it looks like. Vulgo, vulgare, vulgavi, vulgatum is first conjugation and means "to make common, to spread abroad, to publish"; its participle names the Vulgate, Jerome's Bible in the common tongue, and shows up here as vulgatum. Adverb or verb, the sense of the root is the same: what belongs to everybody. English divulge and vulgar come from it, the second having picked up the sneer along the way.

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Latin · Free printables

vulgo: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Latin word "vulgo" (commonly, generally; publicly, everywhere): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 9.