Ancients

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. People or societies that lived long ago, often noted for their significant cultural, philosophical, or technological impacts on future generations
2. Groups or individuals from earlier historical eras, recognized for shaping the foundations of contemporary life and customs
3. Individuals or populations who existed in times far removed from the present, especially those known from early history

Etymology: "Ancients" is the plural form of "ancient," so its story is really the story of the adjective. The root is Latin "ante," meaning "before," joined to the adjective-forming suffix "-anus." Over time this became "anteanus" in Vulgar Latin, passed into Old French as "ancien," and reached Middle English as "auncyen." The sound we pronounce as a "t" in "ancient" is not original to the word; it was added by analogy with the common ending "-ent," as in words like "present" and "absent," which is why the spelling and sound drift from the older form. The plural noun grew out of this sense of "before in time." Calling people "the ancients" marks them as those who came before, and the phrase carries that original meaning of priority in time directly into modern usage.

Synonyms: elders, forebears, antiquities, old-timers, prehistorics

Antonyms: moderns, youths, newcomers, contemporaries, recent arrivals