conopeum

Forms

cōnōpēum n (genitive cōnōpēī); second declension^[1] Also spelled cōnōpium, the form the OLD takes as its head;^[2][3] medieval spellings include canopeum and canapeum.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κωνωπεῖον (kōnōpeîon, “bed with a mosquito net”),^[1][3][6] which the OLD gives as κωνώπιον (kōnṓpion);^[2] the Greek word is made from κώνωψ (kṓnōps, “gnat, mosquito”).^[1][5] Isidore of Seville describes it as a kind of net, shaped like a tent, that keeps out gnats.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro is its first author: he speaks of newly delivered women who lie for some days in cōnōpiīs, in beds hung with mosquito nets.^[8][9][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short describe it as a curtain of fine gauze, used first by the Egyptians, hung around a bed against gnats.^[3] Horace and Propertius use it as a sign of foreign luxury: Horace writes interque signa turpe mīlitāria / sōl aspicit cōnōpium “and among the army's standards the sun looks on a shameful mosquito net”.^[8][2] In Juvenal it is the curtained cradle of a noble baby,^[8][10] and the Vulgate has Holofernes sitting in cōnōpēō in the Book of Judith.^[8][11]

Medieval Latin kept the mosquito net and the curtained bed,^[11][12] and widened the word to a hanging or curtain, a tent or shade, and a canopy or dais.^[11][4] In English sources Alexander Neckam wants a bedroom hung with a curtain or canopeum to keep out flies and spiders.^[12] The altered form canopeum passed into Old French as ⟨conope⟩ and is the source of the English word in the late 14th century.^[13]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro mentions women lying in beds with mosquito nets.^[8][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a mosquito net seen among Roman military standards.^[8][2][5]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of a curtained cradle.^[8][10][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate places Holofernes in a cōnōpēum in the Book of Judith.^[8][5]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm recalls the cōnōpēum of Holofernes that Judith carried off.^[11][5]
• late 14th century – English borrows canope from Old French, the source of canopy.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mosquito net, a curtain of fine gauze against gnats.^[2][3][10]
2. A bed or cradle hung with such nets.^[2][10][14]
3. (Medieval Latin) A hanging or curtain; a tent.^[11]
4. (Medieval Latin) A canopy, a dais.^[4]

Related words

• English canopy

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ a b 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
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company