Etymologically
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crapula

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkraː.pʊ.ɫa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkraː.pu.la][1]

Forms

crāpula f (genitive crāpulae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κραιπάλη (kraipálē, “intoxication, the after-effects of drinking”).[2][3][4][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,[5] of the after-effects of heavy drinking: in the Mostellaria a character says obdormīvī crāpulam, “I have slept off my drunkenness”.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is the state of intoxication and its after-effects:[2] Cicero speaks of guests who had not yet breathed out the drunkenness of a banquet and tells his opponent to sleep his off, and Livy has men plēnī crāpulae, full of drink.[2][6][7] Pliny the Elder uses it also of a resin added to wine, which was believed to curb its harshness.[2][3]

From Augustine on it also means overeating,[7] and medieval Latin uses it mainly of gluttony and surfeit.[8] Medieval writers in Britain use it of a hangover, of excess in food or drink, and figuratively of appetite.[9] French crapule and Italian crapula continue it, and English borrowed it as crapula.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of sleeping off drunkenness.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the after-effects of a banquet.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a resin added to wine.[2][5]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of overeating.[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Drunkenness, the after-effects of heavy drinking; a hangover.[2][3][9]
  2. A resin added to wine.[2][3]
  3. (Late Latin) Overeating, surfeit.[7][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Gluttony.[8][9]

Word family

  • crāpulānus
  • crāpulārius
  • crāpulentus
  • crāpulor
  • crāpulōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b c 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