The adjective ‘civil’ once denoted whole societies, contrasted with the barbarous

Evidence

When the term is applied to a situation, to a given society, ‘civil’ can then designate “a condition of advanced social development such as is considered typical of an organized community of citizens; characteristic of or characterized by such a state of development; civilized.” This usage of ‘civil,’ equivalent to the later ‘civilized,’ is noted by Oxford English Dictionary as “now rare” and “frequently contrasted with barbarous, savage.” — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 42

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the earlier person-level meaning of ‘civil’ from the society-level usage that contrasts organized citizenries with the ‘barbarous and savage’.
• XREF: The civil-versus-barbarous binary underlies the state-of-nature framings this reading of Hobbes engages, since ‘savage’ societies were imagined as lacking civility. — connects to: The word ‘civil’ shifted from civic to cultured behavior during the Renaissance — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 41

Related

• The word ‘civil’ shifted from civic to cultured behavior during the Renaissance (similarity 0.87)
• The concept of civilization emerged only in the modern era (similarity 0.78)
• Civilization in the singular coexisted historically with many civilizations (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The word ‘civil’ shifted from civic to cultured behavior during the Renaissance #expands (0.92) — , Stephanie B. Martens - Civilization and…, 41