Common
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"[A Romance is a] fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents; [...] being thus opposed to the kindred term Novel, [which is] “a fictitious narrative, differing from the Romance, because the events are accommodated to the ordinary train of human events, and the modern state of society.”--"Essay on Romance" (c. 1815) by Walter Scott |
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Common means everyday, mainstream, ordinary and usual.
- Mutual; shared by more than one.
- Found in large numbers or in a large quantity.
- Simple, ordinary or vulgar.
- vernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal, i.e., common name vs. scientific name
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Synonyms
- (mutual): mutual, shared
- (usual): normal, ordinary, standard, usual
- (occurring in large numbers or in a large quantity): widespread
Etymology
From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Proto-West Germanic *gamainī (“common”) in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s (“held in common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, change”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen (“in common, together”) (from Old English samen (“together”)). Doublet of gmina.
Contrast: uncommon
See also
- Common man
- Communism
- Lowest common denominator
- Popular culture
- Common name
- Common knowledge
- Commonplace
- Commonplace book