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apicius

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word apicius

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Derivation
First attested
234–149 BC, Cato

Forms

apīcius (feminine apīcia, neuter apīcium); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.[1][2] The OLD suggests that it is named after a man called Apīcius;[1] Georges takes him to be an Apicius living before or in Cato's time, not the famous gourmet of the first century AD,[3][1] and Gaffiot also thinks it may be the adjective of the name.[4] Lewis & Short instead derive it from apis (“bee”), as a grape “sought by bees”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato's De agri cultura has both the apician grape and apician wine:[5][4] he advises picking the uvas apicias when they are well ripened,[5] and uses the neuter apīcium alone for the wine.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Varro reports Cato's view that the aminnean and apician grapes keep best in jars,[5] Pliny the Elder discusses the vine,[4][2] and Macrobius lists the apician among the kinds of grape.[5] Conte identifies it as a muscat grape.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato names the apician grape and wine.[5][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro quotes Cato on keeping apician grapes in jars.[5][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder discusses the apician vine.[4][7]
  • first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius lists it among the kinds of grape.[5][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a variety of grape and wine, apician: uva apīcia, the apician grape.[1][2][4]

Noun

  1. (neuter, apīcium) Apician wine.[2][4]

Usage notes

Lewis & Short treat it as the same as apiānus “of bees”,[2] but Macrobius lists the apian and apician grapes separately.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Apicius.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/apicius. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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