Where does “gens” come from?
Gens comes from Latin genus, meaning kind or race, descended from Proto-Indo-European ǵenh₁-, a root meaning to beget or produce.
gens (English): A legally defined unit of Roman society, being a...
Definitions
- A legally defined unit of Roman society, being a...
Ancestry of “gens”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Latin | gēns | — |
| 2 | Proto-Italic | *gentis | — |
| 3 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵénh₁tis | birth, production |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵenh₁- | to produce, to beget, to give birth |
Words derived from “gens”