Etymologically
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sepia

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈseː.pi.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsɛː.pi.a][1]

Forms

sēpia f (genitive sēpiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía, “cuttlefish”).[2][3][1] The Greek word is often derived from σήπω (sḗpō, “to make rotten”), but Beekes thinks it could be a Pre-Greek word.[1][4] A variant spelling is saepia.[2][5] Isidore of Seville derived the name from saepēs “hedges”, because the fish is caught more easily when shut in.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus mentions the cuttlefish in the Rudens.[7][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[8]

Semantic evolution

It was the cuttlefish, noted for its black, inky liquid, as in Cicero and Pliny the Elder.[7][2] Persius uses it of the ink itself, which fades when water is poured in, and Ausonius of ink.[2][7] Georges notes that the native Latin word for a squid is lolīgō.[5]

English sepia came through Italian seppia in 1815 for the rich brown pigment.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus mentions the cuttlefish.[7][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the cuttlefish.[7][8]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of ink.[2][8]
  • 1815 – English sepia is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cuttlefish.[2][7]
  2. The ink of the cuttlefish, used for writing; ink.[2][5]

Word family

  • sēpiola

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de