Etymologically
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crepito

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkrɛ.pɪ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkrɛː.pi.to][1]

Forms

crepitō (present infinitive crepitāre, perfect active crepitāvī, supine crepitātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin crepō (“to rattle, crack”) + -itō, a frequentative.[2][3][4] De Vaan traces crepō to Proto-Italic *krepa- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱrep- (“to rattle, crackle”).[5] He compares Sanskrit कृपते (kṛpate, “to wean, mourn”) and Hittite karp- (“to be angry”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus; the TLL marks that attestation as doubtful and next cites Plautus.[5][4] Lewis & Short's first example is Plautus, of teeth chattering.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is to make a quick run of sharp noises: to rattle, rustle, clatter or chatter, and of flames or burning things to crackle.[2][3] Lucretius also has the chattering of teeth, and Ovid a bird's thin beak and pebbles rattled by a wave.[3] Lewis & Short call it poetic or post-Augustan prose.[3] Ancient glosses explain it as making a sound or resounding.[4] Church Latin glosses it to crack, crackle, crash.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of chattering teeth.[3][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.[3][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a bird's beak and of pebbles in a wave.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make a quick succession of sharp noises: to rattle, rustle, clatter, chatter; of flames, to crackle.[2][3][1][7]
  2. To chatter, mumble.[1]

Word family

  • concrepito
  • crepitāculum
  • discrepitō
  • increpitō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson