coepio

Forms

coepiō (present infinitive coepere, perfect active coepī, supine coeptum); third (-iō variant) conjugation^[1] Normally only the perfect stem is used: coepī, coepisse, coeptum.^[2][3] Present-stem forms (coepiam, coepiat, coepere) appear in Plautus, Cato, Caecilius and Terence.^[2] In Plautus and Lucretius coēpī is sometimes trisyllabic.^[2] The future participle coeptūrus is used by Livy, Quintilian, Pliny and Suetonius.^[3] The present coepiō with a full conjugation is a post-classical back-formation from coepī.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin co- + apiō (“to fasten, tie”), “to lay hold of”; the present ⟨coepiō⟩ is a rare early form beside the common perfect ⟨coepī⟩.^[2][1][4] The perfect goes back to ⟨*co-ēpī⟩, with the long-vowel perfect of Proto-Indo-European *h₁e-h₁p-, contracted, or it was influenced by the participle ⟨coeptus⟩ from ⟨*ko-aptos⟩.^[4]

The simple verbs apīscor “to seize, obtain” and apiō continue Proto-Italic *ap-(e)i- (“to get, seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁p-i- (“to get, grab”); compare Hittite epp- (“to take, grab”) and Sanskrit आप (ā́pa, “has reached”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius writes signum cum dare coepisset, “when he had begun to give the signal”,^[2][5] and Plautus coepī observāre “I began to watch”.^[2] De Vaan dates the present coepiō from Plautus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Coepī means “I began”, with an infinitive (flūmen trānsīre coepērunt); with a passive infinitive the passive form is used (pōns īnstituī coeptus est “the building of the bridge was begun”).^[2] It is used absolutely, “to begin (to speak)”, with an accusative object, “to begin, set on foot”, and intransitively of events, “to begin” (ubi silentium coepit).^[2] The participle coeptus means “begun” and, with an active sense, “having begun”.^[2]

The noun coeptum “undertaking” and the frequentative coeptō “to begin” are formed from it.^[4][1]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius: signum cum dare coepisset.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the present coepiam and the trisyllabic coēpī.^[2][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato: ubi pirus flōrēre coeperit, “when the pear tree begins to flower”.^[2][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar: pōns īnstituī coeptus est.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: carmina coepta, “songs begun”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To begin (to do something), commence;^[2][3] (passive with passive infinitive) to begin to be done.^[2]
2. (absolute) To begin;^[2] to begin to speak.^[2]
3. (with accusative) To begin, initiate, set on foot.^[2][1]
4. (intransitive) To begin, be begun.^[2]
5. (participle coeptus) Begun; having begun.^[2]

Word family

• coeptō
• coeptum
• coeptus
• cōpula
• incoeptus
• praecoepi

Related words

• apīscor
• aptus
• incipiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de