Note 50 — Chapter I · THE POPULUS AND ITS EARLIEST POLITICAL DIVISIONS

The word is derived from *co-viria, “a dwelling together,” “an assembly,” by Pott, Etym. Forsch. ii. 373 f. (cf. Vaniček, Etym. Wörterb. d. lat. Spr. 160; Walde, Lat. etym. Wörterb. 161), who is followed by Schwegler, Röm. Gesch. i. 496, n. 8, 610, n. 4; Herzog, Röm. Staatsverf. i. 96. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 5, 90 and notes, gives the word the meaning “an association of citizens,” deriving it from quiris (cf. Abriss, 11), which he connects with κῦρος, κῦριος, as did Lange in 1853 (Kleine Schriften, i. 147). Afterward—Röm. Alt. i. (1876) 91—Lange expressed some doubt as to this connection. But the fact that curia applies to the house not only of the curiales, but also of the senate and of the Salii, as well as to various other buildings, seems to indicate that the meaning “house” is primary for the Latin language if not ultimately original. Corssen, who accepts this meaning, derives cu- from sku-, “to cover,” “to protect” (Ausspr. i. 353 f.; Vaniček, Griech.-lat. etym. Wörterb. 1116), cf. Old High Germ. hū-t, hū-s, Eng. “house.” Although Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. iii. 90, n. 2, protests against this explanation, it is accepted by Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. ii. 511, Soltau, Altröm. Volksversamml. 52, and others. Far less probable is a connection with cura, curare, assumed by most ancient writers; cf. Varro, L. L. v. 155; vi. 46; Vit. pop. rom. in Non. Marc. 57; Fest. ep. 49; Pomponius, in Dig. i. 2. 2. 2; Dio Cass. Frag. 5. 8; Isid. Etym. xv. 2. 28. These sources have misled Genz, Patr. Rom, 32, into fruitless speculation on the functions of the curia.