Etymologically
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duplo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdʊ.pɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈduː.plo][1]

Forms

duplō (present infinitive duplāre, perfect active duplāvī, supine duplātum); first conjugation[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin duplus (“double, twofold”) + -ō.[4][1][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The jurist Gaius is the first to use it, in a passage of the Digest about persons being doubled.[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it a word of legal Latin, where classical writers used duplicō.[8] Ulpian and Paulus use it of damages and penalties: in the action for theft, Ulpian says, it is not the plaintiff's interest that is quadrupled or doubled but the true price of the thing.[2] The epitome of Festus glosses duplābis as duplicābis.[2][8] Fulgentius also uses it.[2]

In Medieval Latin it was used of doubling fines and compensation, as in the Bavarian law,[3] and of paying double;[3] Hungarian records have fines of marcae duplātae.[9] It also meant to repeat,[3] and in music to double a note at the octave.[10] A Polish hymn on the Nativity uses the passive for “become twofold”.[11] It lives on in Italian doppiare and French doubler,[2] and through Old French in English double (verb), recorded about 1200.[12]

Timeline

  • 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it in the Digest.[2][7]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of doubled penalties.[4][2][7]
  • c. 500 AD – Fulgentius uses it.[2][7]
  • c. 1200 – English double “make double” is recorded.[12]
  • 13th century – A treatise on discant uses it of singing at the octave.[10]
  • 1346 – Hungarian records speak of doubled fines.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To double, multiply by two.[4][8][5][13]
  2. (law) To double a penalty or compensation; to pay double.[2][3][9]
  3. (Medieval Latin) To repeat.[3]
  4. (Medieval Latin, music) To double a note at the octave.[10]
  5. (Medieval Latin, passive) To become twofold.[11][14]

Word family

  • duplātiō

Usage notes

Gaffiot also has an adverb duplō, “doubly, twice as much”, the ablative of duplum, which Lewis & Short and the MLW treat under duplus:[13][8][3] the Vulgate has facitis eum filium gehennae duplō quam vōs, “you make him a son of hell twice as much as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15).[13][6][15] Du Cange records medieval nouns duplō, -ōnis, for a gold or silver trimming, a kind of candle and a large gun,[16] and Neo-Latin has duplō for the Spanish coin, the doubloon.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
  10. ^ a b c Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
  11. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  14. ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  15. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  16. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  17. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de