[a. OF. civilien, of or pertaining to the civil law, as in droit civilien, docteur civilien, f. civil, L. cīvīlis. Later uses in English start from other senses of CIVIL.]
1. One who makes or has made the Civil Law (chiefly as distinguished originally from the Canon Law, and later from the Common Law) the object of his study: a practitioner, doctor, professor or student of Civil Law, a writer or authority on the Civil Law.
‘By civilian is meant in English (1) one who professes and practises the civil law, as opposed to the common, or municipal law of England; (2) one who teaches or expounds this civil law; (3) one who studies it’ (De Quincey).
1388. Wyclif, Bible, Prol. 51. Sumtyme cyuylians and canonistris weren deuout, and … bisy on her lernyng.
1576. Fleming, Panoplie Ep., 387. I woulde wishe you to be a Civilian [note, A professour or studient of the Civil lawe, whiche yeeldeth great advantage].
1588. Fraunce, Lawiers Log., Ded. Twenty civilians, and as many common lawyers.
1589. Hay any Work, 24. Ciuillians liue by the court of Amraltie … as well as by the Arches.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 316. Ulpian … and all the Civilians.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 41. Both the Canonists and Civilians are very Copious.
1788. Graves, Recollect. Shenstone, 36 (T.). He [Shenstone] kept his name in the college books, and changed his commoner’s gown for that of a civilian.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), V. VIII. viii. 26. Two learned civilians from Bologna.
1864. Spectator, No. 1875. 641. Doctor’s Commons … has dissolved itself, and civilians will ere long be as extinct as the dodo.
† 2. Theol. ‘One who, despising the righteousness of Christ, did yet follow after a certain civil righteousness, a justitia civilis of his own’ (Trench). Cf. CIVIL 15 b.
1619. W. Sclater, Expos. 1 Thess. (1630), 26. Distinguishing Regenerate mens actions from their counterfeits in Hypocrites and Ciuilians.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 104 (Trench). The mere naturalist or civilian … I mean such an one as lives upon dregs, the very reliques and ruins of the image of God decayed.
1645. Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 102. There be no moral men and civilians in heaven.
3. A non-military man or official.
‘The fashionable, and most childish, use of this word now current (viz., to indicate simply a non-military person)—a use which has disturbed and perplexed all our past literature for six centuries’ (De Quincey, Bentley, Wks. VI. 79 note).
a. orig. (More fully Indian Civilian): One of the covenanted European servants of the East India Company, not in military employ. Now, a member of the Indian Civil Service of the Crown.
1766. (25 May) H. Strachey, Lett., in Malcolm, Life of Clive, III. 54. About the age of the civilians and more than madness of the military.
1766. (28 May) Clive, Lett., ibid. 59. If the civilians entertain the officers, dismiss them the service.
1829. Blackw. Mag., XXV. 364. Civilians and Indian officers returning from sick furlough.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, II. 99. Associating with them European civilians in the administration of justice.
1876. Green, Short Hist., x. 759. He [Warren Hastings] won the love of the new ‘civilians’ as he won the love of the Hindoos.
b. generally (esp. in military parlance): One who does not professionally belong to the Army or the Navy; a non-military person.
1829. Sterling, Ess. & Tales (1848), I. 121. The reasons of the warlike manœuvres are made plain, even to quiet civilians.
1856. Mem. Sir R. Peel, I. 123. But the chief governor … was not a civilian. He was a brave and distinguished soldier.
1868. Regul. & Ord. Army, ¶ 287. The Officers are not responsible for debts incurred by the Messman, such Messman being a Civilian.
† 4. (See quot.)
1570. Levins, Manip., 19. A civiliane, civilis, politicus.
5. attrib. and appositive, in various senses.
1645. Milton, Tetrach., Deut. xxiv. 1, 2, Wks. (1847), 191/1. That civilian emperor, in his title of ‘Donations.’
1858. Bright, Sp. India, 20 May. The old civilian Council of Calcutta.
1864. Times, 14 Sept., 9/4 (L.). More than a fourth of the men had been previously passed by army or civilian surgeons.
1864. Daily Tel., 10 March, 5/2. All over the world military men view any civilian interference with dislike.
Hence Civilianism, nonce-wd., civilian doctrines or principles, opposition to militarism; Civilianize v. nonce-wd. to render civilian, to make (the army) a civilian body.
