popularyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[popular 词源字典]
popular: [15] Popular is one of a range of English words that go back to Latin populus ‘people’. Besides people (which came via Old French) and popular itself, these include populace [16], population [16], and public. It is not clear where populus itself came from, although some have linked it with the Indo- European base *plē- ‘fill’, source of English full and Greek pléthos ‘multitude, common people’ (a relative of English plethora).
=> people, population, public[popular etymology, popular origin, 英语词源]
popular (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
early 15c., "public," from Middle French populier (Modern French populaire) and directly from Latin popularis "belonging to the people, general, common; devoted to or accepted by the people; democratic," from populus "people" (see people (n.)).

Meaning "suited to ordinary people" is from 1570s in English; hence, of prices, "low, affordable to average persons" (1859). Meaning "well-liked, admired by the people" is attested from c. 1600. Of art, entertainment, etc., "favored by people generally" from 1819 (popular song). Related: Popularly. Popular Front "coalition of Communists, Socialists, and radicals" is from 1936, first in a French context.