Etymologically
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sapa

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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]

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