sesquipedalis

Forms

sēsquipedālis (neuter sēsquipedāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēsquipēs (“a foot and a half”) + -ālis.^[2][1] That noun joins the prefix sēsqui- (“one and a half”) and pēs (“foot”);^[1][3] Wiktionary also analyses the adjective as the prefix plus pedālis (“a foot long”).^[1] De Vaan explains the prefix from sēmis (“half”) with -que (“and”), and treats it under sēmi- (“half”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *sēmi- and Proto-Indo-European *sēm-i (“in one”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Catullus,^[3] but Cato already uses it of a measure of a foot and a half in his work on farming,^[5][6] and Caesar has it of beams (tigna).^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

In its literal sense it gives a measurement, linear or square, of one and a half Roman feet: besides Cato and Caesar, Vitruvius and Columella use it so.^[2][6] Poets turned it into a hyperbole for anything far too long: Catullus applies it to teeth and Horace to words, and Martial uses it in the same way.^[6][5]

British medieval writers still used it of a thickness of a foot and a half, and, after Horace, of words taking up a foot and a half of verse, that is, long words.^[7] English took it over in the 1610s for a person or thing a foot and a half long; its use of words dates from the 1650s.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a measure of a foot and a half.^[5][3]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of beams.^[6][3]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of teeth, as a hyperbole.^[6][5][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace writes of sesquipedalia verba, “words a foot and a half long”.^[6][5][3]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of measures in farming.^[6][3]
• 1610s – English borrows it as sesquipedalian, for a person or thing a foot and a half long.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Measuring a foot and a half (in length, breadth or area).^[2][6]
2. (hyperbolic) Excessively long; of words, long and ponderous.^[6][5][1]

Related words

• pēs
• English sesquipedalian

Usage notes

Horace's phrase sesquipedalia verba (Ars Poetica 97) was quoted by medieval writers^[7] and lies behind the English adjective sesquipedalian.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com