illepidus

Forms

illepidus (feminine illepida, neuter illepidum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled ⟨inlepidus⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + lepidus (“charming, elegant”).^[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it with lepidus among the derivatives of lepōs (“charm”); he tentatively reconstructs Proto-Italic *lep-i-þo- (“peeled; charming”) and compares Ancient Greek λέπω (lépō, “to peel”), but calls the semantic link with the Greek words not compelling.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,^[5][6] whose Bacchides has a speaker call himself unlovable and illepidus.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

It means lacking grace or refinement, said first of people:^[2][7] the comic poet Caecilius has a father who is mean, illepidus and hard on his children,^[7][3] and Catullus uses it of a friend's deliciae, his darling, and says a young woman is not illepidum.^[7][8]

Of things it meant tasteless or absurd: Catullus has a vow that is not illepidum, Pliny the Younger a saying of the people of Baetica that is not without wit, and Gellius words of a harsh, graceless novelty.^[7][9] The adverb illepide occurs in Plautus and Horace.^[7] De Vaan notes that lepidus and its family drop out of use after Cicero,^[5] but British medieval writers still used illepidus for lacking refinement or wit.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of an unlovable man.^[7][6]
• 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius uses it of a mean father.^[7][6]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a friend's darling and of a vow.^[7][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of harsh new words.^[7][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of persons) Lacking grace or refinement, unmannerly, disagreeable.^[2][3][7]
2. (of things) Tasteless, absurd, without wit.^[7][9]

Related words

• lepidus
• lepōs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ 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