Etymologically
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daps

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈdaps][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈdaps][1]

Forms

daps f (genitive dapis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *dap-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dh₂p-s (“sacrificial meal, portion”).[2] The root *dh₂p- was used of cutting up a victim and preparing a sacrificial meal, and it may be an extended form of Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide”).[2][1]

Cognate with Hittite tappala- (“court cook”), Ancient Greek δάπτω (dáptō, “to tear apart”), Ancient Greek δαπάνη (dapánē, “expense”), Old Armenian տաւն (tawn, “feast”) and Old Norse tafn (“sacrificial animal”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus onwards,[2][3] who asks “what feast is this, what holiday?”.[4]

Semantic evolution

In religious language it was a sacrificial meal, as in Cato, who has the farmer begin the spring ploughing once the sacrificial meal has been eaten.[4][5] It also meant any feast or banquet, or the food served, and was mostly used in the plural dapes by the poets.[4][6]

In Medieval Latin the plural also meant wealth or riches.[3][1] Its derivative dapsilis meant “plentiful”, and dapifer was a steward who carried the dishes.[2][1]

Timeline

  • c. 280/260 – before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it of a feast.[4][3]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato prescribes a sacrificial meal to Jupiter.[4][3]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace bids a friend pay Jupiter the promised feast.[4][3]
  • c. 768 – Aethicus uses it of wealth.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sacrificial meal, religious feast.[4][1]
  2. A feast, banquet, meal; the food served.[4][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin, plural) Wealth, riches.[3][1]

Word family

  • dapālis
  • dapifer
  • indaps

Usage notes

The nominative singular is hardly found, and the gaps in its forms were filled by epulae and cena.[7][6] Döderlein contrasts dapes, a religious meal of offerings, with epulae, any meal, and convivium, a social meal.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper