corpulentus

Forms

corpulentus (feminine corpulenta, neuter corpulentum, comparative corpulentior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin corpus (“body”) + -ulentus (“full of”).^[2][1][3] The noun corpus goes back to Proto-Italic *korp-os- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱrp-os- (“body”).^[4]

Isidore explained the word as describing someone strong in body, with firm flesh.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is the first to use it, in the Epidicus, where a character is found looking “stouter and in better condition” (corpulentior atque habitior).^[6][7][4]

Semantic evolution

Festus reports that Ennius used corpulentus for “large”, whereas in his own day it meant a person of stout body.^[6][3] Lewis & Short call the word rare, found only before and after the Classical period:^[6] Columella uses it of cattle, Quintilian of a litigant, and Gellius pairs it with pinguis “fat”.^[6][8] Tertullian and Chalcidius use it in the sense “bodily, corporeal”.^[8][6]

Medieval Latin kept both senses, and the MLW adds “dense, solid”.^[9][10] English corpulent comes from it through Old French.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the comparative corpulentior.^[6][12]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of cattle.^[6][12]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a stout litigant.^[6][12]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it in the sense “corporeal”.^[6][8][12]
• late 14th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as corpulent.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of heavy build, corpulent, stout, fat.^[2][6]
2. (Ennius, as reported by Festus) Large.^[2][6]
3. (Late Latin) Bodily, corporeal.^[6][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Dense, solid.^[9]

Word family

• corpulentia

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de