pupa

Forms

pūpa f (genitive pūpae); first declension^[1] Also puppa.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[5][6] De Vaan takes ⟨pūpa⟩ and pūpus (“boy”) as a reduplicated form of the element ⟨pū-⟩ found in puer (“boy”), since Latin often forms affectionate words by reduplication.^[6] He reports that Ernout and Meillet held the feminine to be the original form, which he finds uncertain;^[6] Georges, Gaffiot and other dictionaries derive ⟨pūpa⟩ from ⟨pūpus⟩.^[7][8][9] Pokorny derives it from Proto-Indo-European *pū- (“to blow, swell”), which de Vaan thinks possible but less likely.^[10][6]

Through Vulgar Latin *puppa it is the source of Old French popee (“doll”) and English puppet;^[11] Italian has pupa.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author to use it is Varro, who writes in his Menippean Satires of a longing for dolls and figurines.^[6][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL counts it as a word of everyday speech.^[4] It means both a little girl and a doll:^[5][2] Martial mocks a woman who calls herself pūpa though she is old,^[5] and Persius mentions dolls given to Venus by a girl.^[5][2] Lactantius and Jerome use it of dolls.^[2][7] Medieval British writers used it for a girl and for a female image or doll.^[13] In 1758 Linnaeus took it for the stage between larva and adult insect.^[11][1]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of dolls.^[5][3]
• 34–62 AD – Persius: Venerī dōnātae ā virgine pūpae, “dolls given to Venus by a girl”.^[5][2][3]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a girl.^[5][3]
• 1758 – Linnaeus uses it in New Latin for the pupa of an insect.^[11]
• 1773 – Borrowed into English as pupa.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little girl, lass.^[5][2]
2. A doll, puppet.^[5][2]
3. (New Latin) The pupa of an insect.^[1][11]

Word family

• pūpilla
• pūpula
• pūpulus

Related words

• puer
• pūpus
• pūpillus
• English puppet
• English pupil

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
11. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
13. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press