Etymologically
Log in

nesapius

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 14:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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