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nesapius

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word nesapius

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
before 66 AD, Petronius
Ultimate origin
Latin sapiō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ne
Italian nessuno
Latin nesapius
From the same root
Latin nedum ← ne
Latin nequam ← ne
Latin noenum ← ne

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [nɛˈsa.pi.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [neˈs̬aː.pi.us][1]

Forms

nesapius (feminine nesapia, neuter nesapium); first/second-declension adjective[2] Also nesapus, the form given by the grammarian Scaurus.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin nē1 (“not”) + sapiō (“to taste; to be wise”) + -us, a compound made like nescius (“not knowing”).[2][3][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sh₁p-i- (“to notice”);[5] the TLL compares Oscan sipus (“knowing”) and Old High German int-suob (“noticed”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only literary example is in Petronius: ne me putetis nesapium esse, “don't think me a know-nothing”, says a speaker who then claims to know very well where Corinthian ware first came from.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Apart from Petronius it is known only from the grammarian Scaurus, who gives the form nesapus and explains it as “one who does not know”.[3][4] The dictionaries treat it as an adjective, ignorant or foolish,[2][6][7] or as a noun, an ignoramus.[8][1]

Timeline

  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it.[2][9]
  • 1st half of 2nd century AD – The grammarian Scaurus explains nesapus.[3][4][9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Ignorant, stupid, foolish.[2][6][7]

Noun

  1. An ignoramus, a know-nothing.[8][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Nesapius.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/nesapius. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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