reptile

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ˈreːp.tɪ.ɫɛ]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛp.ti.le]^[1]

Forms

rēptile n (genitive rēptilis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Used as a noun, it is the neuter from Latin rēptilis (“creeping, crawling”), taken from the phrase ⟨animal rēptile⟩, a creeping animal.^[1][2] The adjective is from rēpō (“to creep, crawl”),^[3][4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *rēp-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁p- (“to creep”) or *h₁rēp-.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It belongs to Late Latin;^[1] Köbler's first source is the Vulgate, where it means a creeping animal.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective rēptilis is found from the Old Latin Bible on, mostly in the Scriptures and Church writers and rarely in poetry, of animals that live in water and on land.^[3] The noun keeps the sense of a creeping or crawling creature.^[1][6][4] It passed into French and German,^[1][4] and English reptile, first recorded in the late 14th century, comes from Old French and directly from Late Latin.^[2]

Timeline

• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of creeping animals.^[4]
• late 14th century – English takes it over as reptile.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A creeping or crawling animal, a reptile.^[1][6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson