impexus

Forms

impexus (feminine impexa, neuter impexum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled inpexus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + pexus (“combed”),^[1][4] the participle of pectō (“to comb”).^[2] That verb goes back to Proto-Italic *petke/o- (“to comb”), which de Vaan, following Pinault, derives from a reduplicated Proto-Indo-European *pe-pḱ-.^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek πέκω (pékō, “to comb, shear”) and Lithuanian pèšti (“to pluck”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pacuvius is the first to use it.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly poetic and post-Augustan.^[3] Virgil has icicles stiffening in uncombed beards, stīriaque impexīs indūruit horrida barbīs,^[3] and the hide of a lion shaggy with fearsome bristles;^[2] Horace a head foul with unkempt scurf;^[3] and Tibullus Tisiphone, impexa, with wild snakes for hair.^[3] Tacitus uses it figuratively of the dull, unadorned style of the ancients.^[8][7]

Medieval writers used it of uncombed hair, as Orderic Vitalis does,^[9] of raw wool and of things shaggy or spiky,^[10] and as a neuter noun for a rough cloth.^[10]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it.^[7][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of beards and of a lion's hide.^[3][6]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus uses it of Tisiphone.^[3][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of an old-fashioned style.^[8][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Uncombed, matted, tangled.^[2][3]
2. Having tangled hair, unkempt; shaggy.^[2]
3. (figurative) Rough, unadorned.^[8][7]
4. (Medieval Latin, neuter as a noun) A rough cloth.^[10]

Related words

• pectō
• pecten

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften