decrepitus

Forms

dēcrepitus (feminine dēcrepita, neuter dēcrepitum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2] The usual explanation, followed by the OLD and the TLL, is from Latin dē- + crepō (“to rattle, burst”), from the participle of the verb;^[3][4][1][5] Walde and Hofmann read it as “rattled off”, which de Vaan finds conceivable but not convincing.^[2] Lewis & Short and Wiktionary take it as “noiseless”, of old people who creep about like shadows.^[6][1]

De Vaan notes that it is formed like dēbilis, dēmēns and dēfōrmis, with a noun or adjective as second member, but without their i-stem and without vowel reduction, so it must be a recent formation.^[2] He reports Driessen's suggestion that ⟨-crepitus⟩ contains a root meaning “strong”, Proto-Indo-European *krep-eto-, seen in Middle Irish crim (“quick”), Welsh cryf (“strong”), Breton kreñv (“strong”) and Old Norse hræfa (“to endure”);^[2] Kluge connected it instead with corpus.^[4]

Festus explained it as one whose life is already creper (“doubtful”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Plautus,^[2][7] who speaks of a vetulus, decrepitus senex, “a little old, decrepit old man”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It means worn out with age, enfeebled, decrepit,^[3][6] said of old men and old animals,^[1][5] mostly in early Latin: Plautus and Terence use it of old men and old women.^[6][8] Cicero has it of the age of a short-lived insect, and Seneca writes inter decrepitos me numera, “count me among the decrepit”.^[6][8] Christian writers kept it: the Vulgate has senex decrepitus, Prudentius a decrepit lion, and Commodian “worn out by luxury”.^[6][8]

In medieval Latin it is still very old or infirm,^[9][10] also as a noun for an old man and of abstract things, as Aldhelm's “decrepit old age”.^[10] English took it in the mid-15th century, through Old French, as decrepit.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls an old man decrepitus.^[6][2][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.^[6][8][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has it of an insect's age.^[6][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it as a noun, the decrepit.^[6][8][7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has senex decrepitus.^[6][7]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of limbs and of old age.^[10][7]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as decrepit.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Worn out with age, enfeebled, decrepit.^[3][6][1]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Infirm.^[9]
3. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) A very old man.^[10]

Related words

• crepō
• English decrepit

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press