English

Noun

urbs ‎(plural urbes)

1. A walled city in Ancient Rome.

Latin

urbs (a city)

Etymology

According to the Urbian theory, from *OR/UR- or *OL/UL-, "huge, big, elevated". Cognate with Thracian Az-oros, Basque uri, hiri ‎(“township”), Greek λαβύρινθος ‎(labúrinthos) and Sumerian Ur and Urbillum, today the city of Irbil. This theory is opposed by many linguists.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /urps/, [ʊrps]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /urps/

Noun

urbs f ‎(genitive urbis); third declension

1. a city, walled town
   • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam

     O di immortales, ubinam gentium sumus? Quam rem publicam habemus? In qua urbe vivimus?

     O ye immortal gods, where on earth are we? What is the government we have? In what city are we living?

   Urbi ferro flammāque minitatus est.‎

   He threatened the city with fire and sword.

2. the City, Rome
   • 100 BCE – 44 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.7

     Caesari cum id nuntiatum esset, eos per provinciam nostram iter facere conari, maturat ab urbe proficisci et quam maximis potest itineribus in Galliam ulteriorem contendit et ad Genavam pervenit.

     When it was reported to Caesar that they were attempting to make their route through our Province he hastened to set out from the City, and, by as great marches as he could, proceeded to Further Gaul, and arrived at Geneva.

   Ab urbe condita.‎

   From the founding of the City.

   Urbi et orbi.‎

   To the City and the world.

Inflection

Third declension i-stem.

Derived terms

Descendants

References

• urbs in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• urbs in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “urbs”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the heart of the city: sinus urbis (Sall. Cat. 52. 35)
    
  • to set fire to a city: inflammare urbem
    
  • the city is very beautifully situated: urbs situ ad aspectum praeclara est
    
  • the city is situate on a bay: urbs in sinu sita est
    
  • to be far from town: longe, procul abesse ab urbe
    
  • to enter a city: ingredi, intrare urbem, introire in urbem
    
  • arrival in Rome, in town: adventus Romam, in urbem
    
  • to draw near to a city: appropinquare urbi, rarely ad urbem
    
  • to advance nearer to the city: propius accedere ad urbem or urbem
    
  • in the fifth year from the founding of the city: anno ab urbe condita quinto
    
  • native place: urbs patria or simply patria
    
  • the plague breaks out in the city: pestilentia (not pestis) in urbem (populum) invadit
    
  • a report is spreading imperceptibly: fama serpit (per urbem)
    
  • after having duly taken the auspices: auspicato (rem gerere, urbem condere)
    
  • to banish a person, send him into exile: ex urbe (civitate) expellere, pellere aliquem
    
  • to expel a person from the city, country: exterminare (ex) urbe, de civitate aliquem (Mil. 37. 101)
    
  • to garrison a town: praesidiis firmare urbem
    
  • to garrison a town: praesidium collocare in urbe
    
  • to raise a siege (used of the army of relief): urbis obsidionem liberare