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purpuratus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word purpuratus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (πορφύρα)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin purpura
Latin purpuratus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pʊr.pʊˈraː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pur.puˈraː.tus][1]

Forms

purpurātus (feminine purpurāta, neuter purpurātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin purpura (“purple”) + -ātus.[2][3][1] purpura is borrowed from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple fish, purple dye”).[2][4][1] Priscian testifies that the second-last syllable is long.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Mostellaria: a beautiful woman will be lovelier naked than dressed in purple.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it is a high official at a king's court, especially an eastern one, named from his purple dress: Cicero uses it in the Tusculan Disputations and, mockingly, of Gabinius as the courtier of a would-be king Lentulus in the speeches against Catiline;[5][2] Livy and Curtius also have the noun.[5][2] Wiktionary records a Medieval Latin use for the children of a Byzantine emperor.[1] Stelten gives “clad in purple”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a woman dressed in purple.[2][5][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a royal courtier.[2][5][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of courtiers.[5][7]
  • Medieval Latin – A Byzantine emperor's children.[1]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Dressed in purple.[2][5][1][6]

Noun

  1. A high official at a royal, especially an eastern, court; a courtier.[2][5]
  2. (Medieval Latin) The children of a Byzantine emperor.[1]

Usage notes

The TLL treats purpurātus “coloured purple” as a separate word, the participle of purpurō.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Purpuratus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/purpuratus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·