lupinus

Forms

lupīnus (feminine lupīna, neuter lupīnum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] As the name of the plant it is masculine lupīnus or neuter lupīnum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin lupus (“wolf”) + -īnus.^[3][1][4] The plant was named after the wolf as well, the neuter lupīnum being used as a noun.^[1][5] For lupus, de Vaan sets out two views: the traditional one, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (“wolf”) through a Sabellic form ⟨*lupo-⟩, and his own alternative from a root ⟨*ulp-⟩ “marten”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds the adjective first in Plautus,^[4][5] in the Casina.^[3] Ennius has someone waiting, eager and tall, ready to spring like a wolf.^[3][2] The plant appears in Cato.^[5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

It is “of a wolf”: Cicero has a she-wolf's teats in the third speech against Catiline, Propertius a mane of wolfskin, and Pliny the Elder a wolf's pelt.^[2] It also means wolf-like, as Ennius' spring and the gaping jaws in Prudentius.^[2] As a noun it is the lupine, the plant and its bean: Cato tells where lupine will grow well, Virgil calls it bitter, and Columella, Pliny and Palladius discuss it.^[2] Lupines served on the stage as mock money, hence Horace's proverb of a man who knows the difference between coins and lupines.^[2] Church Latin has “wolfish”.^[7] English lupine “wolf-like” came from it through French in the 1650s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the adjective.^[4][3][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato, of the lupine plant.^[2][5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the she-wolf's teats.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of the bitter lupine.^[2][6]
• 1650s – English lupine “wolf-like”, through French.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a wolf; made of wolfskin.^[3][2][1]
2. Wolf-like, wolfish.^[3][2][1][7]

Noun

1. The lupine, the plant and its bean.^[2][1]
2. Mock money used on the stage.^[2]

Word family

• lupillus
• lupinaceus
• lupīnārius

Related words

• lupus
• lupa
• vulpīnus
• English lupine

References

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