crypticus

Forms

crypticus (feminine cryptica, neuter crypticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κρυπτικός (kruptikós, “fit for concealing”),^[1][2][3][4] from κρύπτω (krúptō, “to hide”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Firmicus Maternus has it in his Mathesis of people of a secretive, scheming character.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Sidonius Apollinaris uses it of the vaulted, covered arches of old bridges,^[1][2][5] and Alcimus Avitus of the hidden recess of a church crypt.^[5] English took it as cryptic “hidden, occult” in the 1630s.^[4]

Timeline

• 334–337 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it of secretive, scheming people.^[5][3]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris writes of covered arches.^[1][5][3]
• 1630s – Borrowed into English as cryptic.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Covered, concealed, underground.^[1][2][5]
2. (Late Latin) Of a crypt.^[5]
3. (Late Latin) Of character: secretive, insidious.^[5]

Related words

• crypta
• English cryptic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften