Etymologically
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pupus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpuː.pʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpuː.pus][1]

Forms

pūpus m (genitive pūpī); second declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] De Vaan treats it with pūpa (“girl, doll”): Ernout and Meillet held that the feminine forms were original and the masculine ones occasional derivatives, which he finds uncertain.[3] The forms ⟨pūpa⟩ and ⟨pūpus⟩ seem to be a reduplication of the syllable found in puer (“boy”);[3] Pokorny's derivation from a root meaning “to inflate” is possible in principle, but since Latin readily makes affectionate words by reduplication, as with the words for father and mother, de Vaan prefers the link with ⟨puer⟩.[3] The TLL also takes them for words of familiar speech, perhaps made by playfully repeating the first syllable of ⟨puer⟩ and pusus.[4] Wiktionary traces it to a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author is Varro,[5][3] who in a Menippean satire speaks of feeding a pupus sucking at the breast.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It was a word for a little boy or child,[2][7] and a term of endearment: in Suetonius' Life of Caligula the welcoming crowds call the emperor pullus, pupus and alumnus among other names of good omen.[2][7] Inscriptions use it as a name for children.[4] Later, in Paulinus of Nola, it meant the pupil of the eye, instead of the classical pupula and pupilla.[7][6] Glossaries often spell it pop-.[4]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a baby at the breast.[2][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius has it as a term of endearment.[2][5]
  • c. 353–431 AD – Paulinus of Nola uses it for the pupil of the eye.[7][6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A boy, a small child.[2][7]
  2. A term of endearment, “little one”.[2][7]
  3. (Late Latin) The pupil of the eye.[7][6]

Word family

  • pūpulus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press