Etymologically
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decrepitus

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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]

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