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pubbe
pubba
masc acc pl of pubba (prep); nt acc pl of pubba (prep); masc loc sg of pubba (prep); nt loc sg of pubba (prep); …
- pubba (adj): previous; earlier; former
- pubba (adj): going before; been before
- pubba (adj): eastern
- pubba (adj): (gram) initial; preceding; first
- pubba (masc): (gram) initial vowel; preceding letter; first syllable
- pubba (masc): pus; suppuration
- pubbā (fem): east
- pubbe (ind): before; previously; formerly; in the past
- …
Built from
- pub- — root · swell, come before
The root sense is "to swell" or "to bulge forward", naturally applied to what stands ahead or comes first in sequence. Cognate with Latin pūbes (mature, adult), where maturity is the swelling of growth.
- -ba — ending · instrumental/locative marker
An archaic suffix forming adjectives and adverbs from roots, here creating the sense of anteriority or spatial precedence. The form pubbe is a frozen locative or instrumental, used adverbially to mean "in/at the before-time".
Etymology. From the root *pub- (to swell, to puff), cognate with Latin "pūbes" (adult, mature), the sense evolving from "swollen/mature" (i.e., "what comes first, anterior") to "before, previous". The -ba suffix is an old instrumental or locative marker. The adverbial form pubbe represents a frozen locative.