pipo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpiː.poː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpiː.po]^[1]

Forms

pīpō (present infinitive pīpāre); first conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is an imitation of the cheeping of young birds.^[2][3][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *pī̆p- and compares imitative words in other languages: Sanskrit पिप्पका (píppakā-, “a kind of bird”), Ancient Greek πιππίζω (pippízō, “to peep”), Lithuanian piẽpti (“to peep”) and German piepen.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucilius.^[2] Köbler dates Lucilius c. 180–102 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was used of birds chirping and cheeping, as in Varro's list of animal cries, gallīna pīpat “the hen clucks”, and of a hawk; and figuratively of people.^[3][5] The Thesaurus notes that the verbs in ⟨pip-⟩ (pīpiō, pīpilō, pīpitō) vary freely, like other onomatopoeic words.^[6]

Etymonline traces English pipe to Vulgar Latin *pīpa “pipe”, a back-formation from pīpāre “to chirp”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a hen.^[5][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of birds) To chirp, cheep, peep.^[3][5]
2. (of people) To squeak, whine.^[3]

Word family

• pīpātiō
• pīpātus
• pīpiō
• pīpitō

Related words

• English pipe

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com