bipes

Forms

bipēs (genitive bipedis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin bi- (“two”) + pēs (“foot”), “two-footed”.^[2][1][3] De Vaan calls it the earliest attested compound in ⟨bi-⟩, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dui- (“two”); pēs continues Proto-Indo-European *pōd-s.^[4] It corresponds to Ancient Greek δίπους (dípous) and to Umbrian dupursus (“bipeds”), which preserves the ablaut grade with long /o/.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Naevius,^[4][5] of birds as two-footed creatures.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly poetic or post-Augustan.^[7] Cicero uses it of a two-footed god and, as a noun, contemptuously of people.^[6][8] Virgil's two-footed horses are the sea horses of the sea gods, with fishes' tails,^[6][8] and Juvenal's two-legged ass is a fool.^[8][6] Martial uses it of a table with two legs.^[7] Pliny the Elder uses bipedes with verbs of walking for four-footed animals that walk on two feet, such as bears and the mice of Egypt.^[2][7] In the Vulgate the plural is a noun, two-footed creatures, set beside the four-footed.^[6]

Medieval British writers kept it for two-footed beings, Gerald of Wales in the definition of man.^[9] English formed biped from it in the 1640s, as a noun for an animal with two feet.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius calls birds two-footed.^[6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a two-footed god.^[8][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil mentions two-footed sea horses.^[6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes animals walking on two feet.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses the plural as a noun.^[6][5]
• 1640s – English forms biped from it.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Two-footed, bipedal; having two legs.^[2][7]
2. (of four-footed animals, with verbs of walking) On two feet.^[2]
3. (noun) A two-footed creature; contemptuously, a man.^[6][8]

Related words

• English biped

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com