Etymology and origin of the Latin word dapino
- Confidence
- Probable
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
- Borrowed from
- Ancient Greek δαπανάω
- Ultimate origin
- Ancient Greek δαπανάω
Forms
dapinō (present infinitive dapināre, perfect active dapināvī, supine dapinātum); first conjugation[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Ancient Greek δαπανάω (dapanáō, “to spend, consume”),[2][3][1] its sense perhaps influenced by daps (“sacrificial feast, meal”).[2][1] Lewis and Short, Georges and Gaffiot instead derive it directly from the Latin noun.[4][5][6] Wiktionary counts it a doublet of that noun and of damnum (“loss”).[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Its only instance is in Plautus' Captivi (line 897): aeternum tibi dapinabo victum, si vera autumas, “I will provide your keep for ever, if what you say is true”.[3][7]
Semantic evolution
The dictionaries read the single passage differently: the OLD takes it as “meet the cost of, provide for”,[2] while Lewis and Short, Georges and Gaffiot understand “serve up (a meal)”.[4][5][6]
Timeline
Meanings
Verb
- To meet the cost of, to provide (someone's keep).[2]
- To serve up (food), to set before someone.[4][5][6]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Dapino.” Etymologically, 25 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dapino. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.
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