Etymologically
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corruptela

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 18:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [kɔr.rʊpˈteː.ɫa][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kor.rupˈtɛː.la][1]

Forms

corruptēla f (genitive corruptēlae); first declension[1] Also conruptēla, and in early Latin corrumptēla.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from corrumpō “to corrupt” with the suffix -ēla; ⟨corrumpō⟩ is from con- and rumpō “to break”.[2][1][4] De Vaan traces ⟨rumpō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *Hru-n-p- (“to break”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of moral corruption.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was a moral corrupting, perverting, seduction, bribery, as in Plautus and Cicero's corruptēla malae cōnsuētūdinis “the corrupting effect of bad habit”; and a source of corruption, a corrupting influence, as in Terence.[2][7][3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it was bribery, evil, seduction, corruption, a seducer.[8] British Medieval Latin used it for physical harm, decay, rot, infection.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a corrupting influence.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[7][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Corruption, seduction, bribery.[2][3]
  2. A corrupting influence.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Decay, rot, infection.[9]

Word family

  • incorruptēla

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ 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