sensus communis

== Latin == === Etymology === Literally, “common (i.e., universal, generally shared) sense”. In the philosophical sense, a calque of Ancient Greek κοινὴ ἔννοια (koinḕ énnoia), κοινὴ αἴσθησις (koinḕ aísthēsis), chiefly in Aristotle. === Noun === sēnsus commūnis m sg (genitive sēnsūs commūnis); fourth declension tact, manners, discretion (Medieval Latin, philosophy) the basic faculty of human perception and discrimination between different qualities, shared by all the specific senses and preceding rational judgement ==== Declension ==== Fourth-declension noun with a third-declension adjective, singular only. ==== Descendants ==== → English: common sense (calque) → French: sens commun (calque) → German: Gemeinsinn (calque, but now a false friend) === Further reading === “sensus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “communis” on page 370/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82): “sensus ~is, feeling for others in the same community” “sensus communis”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.