Etymologically
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locupleto

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫɔ.kʊˈpɫeː.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [lo.kuˈplɛː.to][1]

Forms

locuplētō (present infinitive locuplētāre, perfect active locuplētāvī, supine locuplētātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb from Latin locuplēs (“wealthy”) + -ō.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the second part of that adjective to Proto-Italic *-plē-t- and Proto-Indo-European *-pleh₁-t-, from the root of plēnus (“full”); he notes Leumann's view that the first part is ⟨*loculus⟩ “money-bag”, but thinks it may simply be “rich in lands”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Accius,[4] who, as Gellius quotes him, has men enrich their houses with gold.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is to make wealthy, enrich: Cicero has men enriched with fortunes and a man enriched with booty of gold and silver, and Nepos has Hamilcar enrich Africa with horses, arms, men and money.[5] Columella uses the passive for growing rich.[5] Figuratively, nature enriches the wise man and eloquence is enriched with the tools of weightier arts;[5][2] Cicero also uses it of adorning a temple with fine paintings.[5][2] Church Latin keeps the sense to enrich.[6]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of houses enriched with gold.[5][4][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of enriching citizens and adorning a temple.[5][2]
  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos of Hamilcar enriching Africa.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make wealthy, enrich.[2][5][1][6]
  2. To make sumptuous, embellish, adorn.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • collocuplētō
  • locūplētātiō
  • locuplētātor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de