Etymologically
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crispus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word crispus

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkrɪs.pʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkris.pus][1]

Forms

crispus (feminine crispa, neuter crispum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It goes back to Proto-Italic *krispo- (“curly, twisted”).[2][1] Many scholars, followed by the OLD, start from *kripso- because of Welsh crych (“curly, wrinkled”) and Breton crec'h (“curly”), but Schrijver has shown that /ps/ and /sp/ give the same result in British Celtic.[2][3] De Vaan therefore prefers Italo-Celtic *kris-po-, linking it with crīnis “hair” and crista “crest”.[2][4][1] Pokorny and Köbler trace the group to Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,[2][6] who mocks “your artificial, arranged, curly locks”, and Ennius has walls of “crumpled” fir wood in a burnt palace.[3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was curly or curled, of hair and of curly-headed people.[3][4] It extended to anything wrinkled or crinkled, such as cabbage, celery and lettuce leaves, and to wood and marble with a wavy grain.[3] It also meant tremulous or vibrating, of a serpent's tongue or of a dancer's hips, and Aulus Gellius applied it to an elaborate style.[3][4]

As a cognomen it was borne by the historian Sallust, C. Sallustius Crispus.[3][7] English crisp was borrowed in Old English in the sense “curly”, and French crêpe gave English crepe.[8]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of fir wood warped by fire.[3][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of curly locks and curly-haired men.[3][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato describes a curly kind of cabbage.[3][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of wavy-grained wood and marble.[3][6]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal speaks of a vibrating plectrum.[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Curly, curled; curly-haired.[3][4]
  2. Wrinkled, crinkly; of leaves, crisped.[3]
  3. (of wood or marble) Wavy-grained.[3]
  4. Trembling, vibrating.[3]
  5. (of style) Elegant, elaborate.[3][4]

Word family

  • concrispus
  • crispicapillus
  • crispicō
  • crispisulcans
  • crīspitūdō
  • crispō
  • crispulus
  • subcrīspus
  • succrīspus
  • crīnis
  • crista
  • English crisp
  • English crepe

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Crispus.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/crispus. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on .