COMMONPLACE  , a

translation of the Gr . Kotvos roaos, i.e. a passage or argument appropriate to several cases; a " common-place book " is a collection of such passages or quotations arranged for reference under general heads either alphabetically or on some method of classification . To such a book the name adversaria was given, which is an adaptation of the Latin adversaria scripta, notes written on one side, the side opposite (adversus), of a paper or book . From its original meaning the word came to be used as meaning something hackneyed, a platitude or truism, and so, as an adjective, equivalent to trivial or ordinary .