serp

Forms

serp f (plural serps)^[1] One manuscript of Llull's Arbre de ciència has the masculine lo serp.^[2] The DCVB also records a pronunciation with a prothetic /a/.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan serp, which is inherited from Vulgar Latin *serpes (“snake”), a popular form of classical serpēns (“snake, serpent”).^{[4][3][5][1][6]} The GDLC and the REW note that a nominative ⟨serps⟩ is recorded, in Venantius Fortunatus.^[5][6]

The same popular form is Italian serpe, Occitan sèrp, Spanish sierpe, Portuguese serpe and Romanian șarpe; the classical form gave Italian serpente, French serpent, Spanish serpiente and the semi-learned serpent.^[6][4]

The Latin noun is the present participle of serpō (“to creep, crawl”), used as a noun.^[7][1] Its cognates are Sanskrit सर्प (sarpá, “snake”) and Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν (herpetón, “creeping animal”), from Proto-Indo-European *serp-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines dates the first records to the third quarter of the 13th century, in Llull and Cerverí de Girona; in Llull's Llibre de meravelles the Serpent is one of the counsellors of the Lion king.^[4] Llull's Llibre de contemplació speaks of the stag that runs to water after eating a snake.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the beginnings the inherited serp lived beside the half-learned serpent, which Llull and Cerverí prefer in elevated contexts; from the Middle Ages on serp is the basic word for the real reptile, in Metge, Eiximenis and Ausiàs March, while serpent became a literary word.^[4] Serp has always been feminine.^[4]

The DCVB adds the devil, after the serpent of Paradise, several long thin sea fishes, a zigzag flash of lightning and a cunning person.^[3] Fabra lists serp de vidre and serp de mar among the animals named after it.^[8]

Timeline

• 1250–1275 – first records, in Llull and Cerverí de Girona.^[4]
• Second half of the 13th century – the Diàlegs of Saint Gregory, the first record in the CICA corpus.^[9]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge's Lo somni: Eurydice bitten in the heel by a hidden snake.^[4]
• 1440 – the Curial e Güelfa describes a queen holding a snake in each hand.^[10]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary: serp de vidre, serp de mar.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A snake, a reptile of the suborder of the ophidians: Al marge del camí hi havia una serp.^[11][5][1]
2. With a qualifier, the name of particular species, such as serp blanca (Elaphe scalaris) and serp d'aigua (Natrix maura).^[11][12]
3. (mythology, religion) The snake as a mythical or symbolic figure;^[5] (heraldry) a snake as a charge.^[5]
4. (figurative) The devil; a cunning, deceitful person.^[3]
5. The name of several long thin sea fishes, especially of the genus Syngnathus.^[3][8]

Related words

• serpent
• serpentejar
• Latin serpēns
• Spanish sierpe

Usage notes

A medieval proverb collection has cell que serp ha mordut, soga li fa pahor, whoever has been bitten by a snake fears a rope.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. serp
3. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. serp
4. ^ a b c d e f g Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 7, 835
5. ^ a b c d e Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. serp
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7855
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. serpēns
8. ^ a b c Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. serp
9. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. serp
10. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. serp
11. ^ a b Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. serp
12. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. serp