pedis

Forms

pēdis m (genitive pēdis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pezd-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“annoying insect”).^[2] De Vaan sees its closest relatives in Indo-Iranian: Avestan pazdu- (“beetle, maggot”) and Sanskrit पैद्व (paidvá-, “an insect harming horses”).^[2] The derivative pēdicōsus “lousy” points to an older base ⟨*pēdi/ek-⟩, so that pēdis may be a remodelling of an earlier ⟨*pēdex⟩.^[2][1] He finds the explanation as ⟨*pe-h₁ed-i-⟩ “the one that eats away”, proposed by Weiss and Neri, vague and unconvincing.^[2]

The OLD reconstructs ⟨*pezdis⟩ and connects it with pedo² (“to fart”),^[3] and the TLL reports Ernout's suggestion that the louse was named from the crackling sound it makes when it is killed.^[4] Köbler likewise sets it under *pezd- (“to fart”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is a line of Livius Andronicus' comedies, “fleas or bugs or lice?” (pulicesne an cimices an pedes?),^[4][2][5] where it means a louse.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of comedy and of plain speech: Plautus lists lice with flies, gnats, bugs and fleas,^[4] Lucilius has a man picking lice,^[4] and Varro advises clearing them from the heads and necks of chickens.^[4][7] It is masculine in Novius and feminine in a fragment of Plautus.^[4]

The diminutive pēdiculus gradually replaced it;^[4] the grammarian Nonius already glosses pedis as what “we call pediculus”.^[4]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus names lice beside fleas and bugs.^[4][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus lists them among pests.^[4][7]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius has a man pick lice from his head.^[4]
• 1st century BC – Novius uses it, perhaps of a nasal polyp.^[3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro advises picking the lice from chickens.^[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A louse.^[3][7][8]
2. (perhaps) A polyp in the nose.^[3]

Word family

• pediculus
• pēdicōsus

Usage notes

The same spelling is also the genitive singular pĕdis of pēs “foot”, with a short e.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.