cops

Forms

cōps (genitive cōpis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1] The OLD heads it cōpis and treats the nominative as hypothetical;^[2][3][4] Priscian cites a nominative cops, and Varro, as emended, cōpis.^[2][3][4] Other forms are the accusative cōpem and the ablative cōpī.^[4][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin co- + ops (“power, means”).^[2][1] Georges explains it as contracted from ⟨*coops⟩,^[3] and de Vaan lists it, like cōpia, among the derivatives of ops, which goes back to Proto-Italic *opi- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃e/op-(i-) (“ability, force”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[5] who uses it of a young man in love who has to be made well supplied with money, and in the phrase cōpī pectore, which the OLD takes as “with a chest swelling with pride”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is an old word for the classical cōpiōsus, well supplied or rich, sometimes with a genitive of what one has plenty of:^[3] Pacuvius exclaims over a day rich in good fortune, and Titinius uses it of being made master of all one's affairs.^[3][4]

Medieval glossaries kept it as a word for “rich”,^[6] and the Catholicon Anglicum also gives an indeclinable cops meaning plenty.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it twice.^[2][3][8]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it with a genitive.^[3][8]
• end of the 2nd or beginning of the 1st century BC – Titinius uses it with a genitive.^[3][8]
• 6th century AD – Priscian cites the nominative cops.^[3][4][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Well supplied, wealthy, rich;^[2][3][4] (with genitive) rich in, master of.^[2][3][4]
2. (of the chest) Swelling (with pride).^[2]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, indeclinable) Abundance, plenty.^[7]

Related words

• cōpia
• cōpiōsus
• inops
• opulentus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de