culpa

Forms

culpa f (genitive culpae); first declension^[1] Priscian records an older spelling colpa.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] De Vaan tentatively reconstructs Proto-Italic *kʷolpā- (“wrong, mistake”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷolp-h₂- (“bend, turn”): if the word first meant a state of error rather than a single error, it may belong with Proto-Germanic *hwelf-a- (“to wind, bend”) and *kʷelp- (“to wind, turn”): compare the history of English “wrong”.^[2][1] The OLD calls it doubtful and compares Oscan kulupu.^[3] L&S connected it with scelus (“crime”).^[5]

Compare Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, lap”), Old Norse hvelfa (“to vault, turn over”) and Old English hwealf (“vault”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[2] who has nē posterius in mē culpam cōnferās, “so that you do not put the blame on me later”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Culpa is responsibility for something wrong, “the blame”; the state of having done wrong, “guilt”, and a sense of guilt (Plautus: slaves who are free of guilt still fear punishment).^[3][1] It is also wrongdoing or a single offence, and an imperfection or defect, moral or otherwise.^[3][1] L&S describe it as a state that deserves punishment, as against dēlictum and peccātum, the punishable acts.^[5] Wiktionary notes its use for sexual misconduct.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “guilt, fault, error, sin, blame”, and the phrase meā culpā is “through my fault”.^[6][1] In Medieval Latin it is “fault, sin” and also a confession of guilt.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: nē posterius in mē culpam cōnferās.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an offence and of moral faults.^[3][4]
• Middle Ages – Used of a confession of guilt.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. blame, responsibility (for something wrong).^[3][5][1][6]
2. guilt; a sense of guilt.^[3][1][6]
3. An offence, fault, wrongdoing;^[3][1][6][7] (Ecclesiastical Latin) sin.^[3][1][6][7]
4. A defect, imperfection.^[3][1]
5. Sexual misconduct, unchastity.^[1]
6. (Medieval Latin) A confession of guilt.^[7]

Word family

• culpō
• culpābilis

Related words

• dēlictum
• peccātum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill