Etymologically
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caprificus

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Forms

caprifīcus m (genitive caprifīcī); second declension[1] The OLD and Lewis & Short give it as feminine, genitive caprificī, rarely -ūs.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from caper “he-goat” and fīcus “fig”, “goat fig”.[2][1][3] The Thesaurus notes that Greek likewise links the wild fig and the goat.[4] De Vaan traces ⟨caper⟩ to Proto-Italic *kapro- (“he-goat”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short cite Terence's Adelphoe.[3] Köbler dates Terence 190–159 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was the wild fig tree, as in Terence and Horace.[2][3][7] Persius used it figuratively of natural gifts that force their way out, like the wild fig that grows anywhere, and Columella used it of the wild fig's fruit.[7] Isidore derived the name from carpere “to tear”, because it tears apart the walls in which it grows.[8]

British Medieval Latin kept the sense wild fig.[9] It survives in Italian caprifico and Spanish cabrahígo.[1]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.[3][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.[7][6]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains its name.[8][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The wild fig tree.[2]

Word family

  • caprifīcō

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  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