Etymologically
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caprinus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kaˈpriː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kaˈpriː.nus][1]

Forms

caprīnus (feminine caprīna, neuter caprīnum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kaprīno- (“of a goat”),[2][1] an adjective in ⟨-īno-⟩ to *kapro- (“he-goat”), the source of caper.[2] Morphologically it is from Latin caper + -īnus.[3][1] The genitive Umbrian cabriner continues the same adjective.[2][4]

De Vaan finds no single Proto-Indo-European word for “goat”; a root Proto-Indo-European *kh2p- could be set up, but he thinks a loanword more likely, since ⟨*kap-⟩ is suspiciously close to Celtic *gab-ro-.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cato on,[2][5] who lists goats' dung beside that of sheep and cattle in his work on farming.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it described anything that comes from goats: skins, tallow, blood, milk and leather bottles.[3][6] It could also mean “like a goat's”, of the colour of eyes,[3] and “consisting of goats”, of flocks and herds.[3][6] Goat's wool was proverbially worthless, and Horace speaks of a man who “often quarrels about goat's wool”, that is, about trifles.[3] Pliny the Elder uses lactuca caprina for a kind of spurge.[3]

In medieval Latin it kept the same range, of goat's milk, goatskins and goat hair.[7][8] English took it over as caprine about 1600.[9]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato lists goats' dung beside that of sheep and cattle.[3][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of flocks of goats.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions a goatskin.[3][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses the proverb of quarrelling over goat's wool.[3][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder records lactuca caprina, a kind of spurge.[3][5]
  • c. 1600 – English borrows it as caprine.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or belonging to goats, caprine.[3][6]
  2. Like that of a goat.[3]
  3. Made up of goats (of a flock or herd).[3][6]
  4. lactuca caprina: a kind of spurge.[3]

Word family

  • caprīnārius

Usage notes

Lāna caprīna, “goat's wool”, was proverbial for something of no value, as in Horace's line alter rixatur de lana saepe caprina (“the other often quarrels about goat's wool”).[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com