auceps

Forms

auceps m (genitive aucupis); third declension^[1] The grammarian Velius Longus records a genitive aucipis.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin avis (“bird”) + -ceps (“catcher”), contracted from ⟨*awi-kaps⟩.^[3][4][1] The second part belongs to capiō (“to take”).^[5][6] De Vaan traces avis to Proto-Italic *awi- (“bird”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu-i- (“bird”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,^[4][5] in the Asinaria: auceps quando concinnavit aream, offundit cibum, “when the fowler has got the floor ready, he scatters the bait”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a bird-catcher, as Horace's fowler who, intent on blackbirds, falls into a well.^[2] In Plautus' Trinummus it is also a seller of birds, a poulterer, in a list of tradesmen.^[3][2] Figuratively it is a spy or eavesdropper: in the Miles Gloriosus someone looks round so that no one may be listening.^[3] Cicero coins auceps syllabārum, a syllable-hunter, for a quibbler over words.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a fowler, a poulterer and an eavesdropper.^[3][2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, auceps syllabārum, “a syllable-hunter”.^[3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace, of a fowler falling into a well.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bird-catcher, fowler.^[3][2][1]
2. A seller of birds, a poulterer.^[3]
3. (figurative) A spy, eavesdropper.^[3][1]
4. auceps syllabārum: a syllable-hunter, a quibbler.^[3][1]

Word family

• aucupalis
• aucupium
• aucupor

Related words

• avis
• capiō
• auspex

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften