Etymologically
Log in

prosapia

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 17:06. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proːˈsaː.pi.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈs̬aː.pi.a][1]

Forms

prōsāpia f (genitive prōsāpiae); first declension[1] A collateral form prōsāpiēs (genitive prōsāpiēī) also occurs.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain: the first part is the prefix prō-, the second unexplained.[1][4] The OLD analyses it as prō-, a root ⟨sap-⟩ and the suffix -ia, comparing a Sanskrit word for “penis” and Priāpus.[5] The TLL thinks it seems to contain the root of sapiō, but finds the formation and the meaning unclear.[3] Lewis & Short connected it with the root of serō1 (“to sow”).[2] Wiktionary reports Nikolaev's derivation of the second part from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂p- (“to strike”), with the meaning developing from “strike” to “have intercourse” to “beget” before the prefix was added.[1]

Ancient grammarians explained it from supō (“to throw, scatter”), as offspring scattered forth, as reported from Paul's epitome of Festus.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on, in the sense “family, lineage”: he has the phrase de Coclitum prosapiā esse “to be of the line of the Coclites”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It always means a stock or family, the line of a person's ancestors and descendants.[5][2] It was felt as an archaic word from early on: Cicero uses it apologising that he is using an old word, and Quintilian names it among words fetched from forgotten times and calls it tasteless.[2] Sallust and later Justin and Suetonius still use it in phrases such as homo veteris prosapiae “a man of ancient lineage”.[2] Döderlein calls it an antiquated, solemn expression for a race seen in its descending line.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a family line.[2][4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of ancient lineages.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it, calling it an old word.[2][4]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust has homo veteris prosapiae.[2][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian counts it among obsolete words.[2][4]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of an old and great family.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (archaic) A stock, race, family; lineage, the people related by blood past and present.[5][2]

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts it with stirps, genus and gens, which look up the line to the ancestors, while prosapia, progeniēs, propāgō, prōlēs and subolēs look down it to the descendants.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper