copia

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkoː.pi.a]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkɔː.pi.a]^[1]

Forms

cōpia f (genitive cōpiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from cōps “well supplied”, from *co-ops, con- and ops “resources, power”, with the suffix -ia.^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citations are from Plautus, of plenty and of opportunity.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a plentiful supply, abundance, as Cicero's abundance of corn and of books, plenty as opposed to want, and the goddess Copia, as in Plautus and Horace, with cornū cōpiae the horn of plenty.^[2][5][3] It meant a number, amount, a body of men, and in the plural troops, forces, as in Caesar.^[2] It meant supplies, provisions, resources, and prō cōpiā “as one's means allow”.^[2] In rhetoric cōpia dīcendī was fluency, and it also meant the means or opportunity of doing something, and access to a person, as in Terence.^[2] Döderlein says exercitus is an army of several legions, cōpiae troops of several cohorts.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant plenty, supplies, wealth, resources.^[7] In Medieval Latin it meant a copy.^[8] It survives in Italian copia and Spanish copia.^[1] English copy came in the mid-14th century from Medieval Latin cōpia “transcript”, and English copious from cōpiōsus.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of plenty and of the goddess Copia.^[2][3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of abundance and of fluency.^[2][5][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of troops.^[2][4]
• mid-14th century – English copy is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Abundance, plenty, (personified) Copia.^[2]
2. A number, quantity; a body of men, (plural) troops.^[2]
3. Supplies, provisions; resources.^[2]
4. cōpia dīcendī, fluency.^[2]
5. Opportunity, means; access.^[2]
6. (Medieval Latin) A copy.^[8]

Word family

• copiarius
• cōpiolae
• cōpiōsus
• cornūcōpia

Related words

• ops
• English copy
• English copious

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com