sonipes

Forms

sonipēs (genitive sonipedis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sonus (“sound”) + pēs (“foot”).^[2][1][3] sonus belongs with sonō (“to sound”) and goes back to Proto-Italic *sweno- (“sound”) and the root Proto-Indo-European *suenH- (“to sound”);^[4] pēs continues Proto-Indo-European *pōd-s (“foot”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it first in Lucilius,^[4] who writes of a Campanian horse with a jolting trot, Campānus sonipēs succussor;^[2][5] Köbler and Conte cite Accius,^[6][7] who has quadripedantum sonipedum, “of the galloping steeds”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective, “noisy-footed”, it is rare: Grattius uses it of the crowd in the rites of Isis.^[8][9] It is mostly a poetic noun for a horse or steed: Catullus, Virgil, Lucan, Statius, Valerius Flaccus and Silius Italicus use it,^[2][8] Virgil of a horse standing in purple and gold and, in the collective singular, of horses prancing over the whole plain,^[2] and Germanicus of the winged horse above Andromeda's head.^[2] Cicero quotes the plural sonipedēs as an example of the fourth paeon, a metrical foot.^[8] It also appears in verse inscriptions,^[5] and medieval poets and chroniclers in Britain keep it for a horse.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a Campanian horse.^[2][4][6]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it in a tragedy.^[2][6][7]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it in poem 63.^[2][8][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Aeneid.^[2][8][6]
• 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it in the Punica.^[2][8][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Making a noise with the feet, noisy-footed.^[2][8][9]

Noun

1. (poetic) A horse, steed.^{[2][8][7][10]}

Related words

• sonus
• pēs
• sonō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ 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