Etymologically
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illepidus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪlˈlɛ.pɪ.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ilˈlɛː.pi.dus][1]

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]

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