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aucupor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word aucupor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂eu-i-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin avis
Latin auceps
Latin aucupor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈau̯.kʊ.pɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaːu̯.ku.por][1]

Forms

aucupor (present infinitive aucupārī, perfect active aucupātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] An active aucupō is used by early writers.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin auceps (“bird-catcher”) + -ō.[2][3][1] De Vaan derives auceps from ⟨*au̯i-kaps⟩, a compound of avis (“bird”) and the root of capiō (“to take”);[4] the bird word goes back to Proto-Italic *awi- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu-i- (“bird”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it first in Plautus.[4] In the Truculentus it is used figuratively, of a fine catch made to one's liking.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to go bird-catching or fowling: Varro speaks of one place for coppice wood and another for fowling, and Pliny the Elder of men and hawks hunting birds together.[2] Columella uses it of catching swarms of bees.[2][5] Figuratively it is to watch someone in order to take advantage of them, to lie in wait, as in Plautus' Mostellaria, where a speaker looks round for anyone eavesdropping.[2] It also means to be on the lookout for, try to catch or snatch at: Pacuvius has someone casting looks in every direction.[2] Old Latin and Varro also use an active aucupō.[2][3][5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus figuratively and of eavesdroppers.[2][4]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of looking out in every direction.[2]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a place for fowling.[2][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of catching swarms of bees.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go bird-catching or fowling;[2][5][1] (present participle as noun) a fowler; to catch (bees).[2][5][1]
  2. To keep watch on, lie in wait for.[2][1]
  3. To be on the lookout for, hunt after, try to obtain, snatch at.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • aucupābundus
  • aucupātiō
  • aucupātōrius
  • aucupātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d 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 f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Aucupor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/aucupor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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