Etymologically
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caprea

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈka.pre.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkaː.pre.a][1]

Forms

caprea f (genitive capreae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is derived from capra (“she-goat”),[2][3] itself from caper (“he-goat”).[4][1] De Vaan traces caper to Proto-Italic *kapro- (“he-goat”) and thinks a loanword more likely than an inherited word, since no single Indo-European word for “goat” can be reconstructed.[4] Cognate with Umbrian kaprum (“he-goat”), Ancient Greek κάπρος (kápros, “wild boar”) and Old Norse hafr (“he-goat”).[4] Varro explains the name by a certain likeness to the she-goat.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is the roe deer.[2][1] Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Martial and Pliny the Elder use it,[6] and since the roe and the wolf were enemies, Horace's iungere capreās lupīs, “to yoke roes with wolves”, is proverbial for something impossible.[6] Ovid names a place Capreae palus, the goat's marsh.[2] Priscian cites a masculine capreus, noting that the feminine is the form in use.[3] Church Latin has it as a wild she-goat or roe.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro, on the name.[3][4][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, the proverb of roes yoked with wolves.[6][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, Capreae palus.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The roe deer;[2][1] a wild she-goat.[6][7]

Word family

  • capreāginus
  • capreola
  • capreolus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson