sapa

Forms

sapa f (genitive sapae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2] The OLD and Lewis & Short compare Old High German saf (“sap”) and Old English sæp (“sap”).^[3][4] De Vaan thinks a derivation from sapiō (“to taste”), as in Pokorny and Ernout–Meillet, unlikely, since the Germanic and Armenian cognates also mean “sap”; he compares Old Norse safe and Avestan hə̄buuaṇt- (“juicy?”), and holds that Old English and Dutch took their word from Latin.^[2] The alternation of ⟨*sap-⟩ and ⟨*sab-⟩ in these forms suggests a loanword from a non-Indo-European source.^[2] Wiktionary instead derives it from Proto-Italic *sapā and Proto-Indo-European *sab- (“to taste”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is new wine boiled down, which Varro says was reduced to a half and Pliny the Elder to a third of its volume.^[3][6] Ovid says the ancients drank it, Columella uses it to improve and strengthen wine, and Varro mixes it with meal to fatten snails.^[6][4] Martial also mentions it.^[4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato has the word.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro, of must boiled down to a half.^[6][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella, of strengthening wine.^[6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of must boiled down to a third.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. New wine or must boiled down to a fraction of its volume, a must syrup.^[3][4][6]

Related words

• dēfrūtum
• mustum
• English sap

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn