Etymologically
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lupanar

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫʊˈpaː.naːr], [ɫʊˈpaː.nar][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [luˈpaː.nar][1]

Forms

lupānar n (genitive lupānāris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lupa (“she-wolf; prostitute”),[2][3][4] with an ending the OLD and the TLL compare with Bacchānal from Baccha.[2][3] Wiktionary explains it as a shortening of an earlier neuter adjective ⟨*lupānāre⟩, built with the suffixes -ānus and -āris.[1] That noun is the feminine of lupus (“wolf”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] who in the Bacchides speaks of a man who lies at table in a brothel.[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Catullus uses it as a term of abuse.[6][5] Petronius, Quintilian and Juvenal use it of a brothel,[6][5] and Ammianus Marcellinus applies it to an emperor's harem.[8] The TLL also records a form lupānārium.[3] In British medieval Latin it was still a brothel or “stew”, spelled also ⟨lupinar⟩ and ⟨lupaner⟩, and by association with “stew” it once named a fishpond.[9] English lupanar was borrowed from it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Bacchides.[5][7]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it as a term of abuse.[5][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it.[6][7]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of an emperor's harem.[8][7]
  • 1598 – A survey of Cobham uses it of a fishpond.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A brothel.[2][6]
  2. (term of abuse) A whore.[6][5]
  3. (Late Latin) A harem.[8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A fishpond, stew.[9]
  • lupa
  • lupus
  • English lupanar

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b c 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