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spurcus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word spurcus

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈspʊr.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈspur.kus][1]

Forms

spurcus (feminine spurca, neuter spurcum, comparative spurcior, superlative spurcissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] The OLD compares spurius (“illegitimate”) with a “perhaps”,[2] Lewis & Short compared spargō (“to scatter”),[4] and Köbler thinks it is probably of Etruscan origin.[3] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Italic *sporkos from Proto-Indo-European *spr̥ḱós, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to scatter”), with the original meaning “polluted”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[3] who uses it in the Asinaria of filthy nights.[4] Cato has a sore that gives off a foul discharge.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is dirty or foul, said of discharges, saliva in Catullus, land in Columella and a vessel in Gellius.[2][4] Cicero calls a storm spurcissima in a letter fragment.[2][4] In ritual language Festus reports Labeo's definition of spurcum vīnum, wine unfit for sacrifice because it was mixed with water or heated.[2][4] Of people it is morally foul or base: Lucilius has Samnis, spurcus homō, Horace a low fellow named Dama, and Cicero uses the superlative of men in the Philippics and the Verrines.[4] It is also used of sexual offences, as in Pomponius' farces.[2] In British Medieval Latin it is used of excrement and of a dusky colour.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of filthy nights.[4][3]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato, of a foul discharge.[2][3]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, of a base man.[4][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero has the superlative spurcissimus.[4][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Dirty, filthy, foul, unclean; of weather, foul.[2][4][1]
  2. Ritually impure.[2][4]
  3. Morally polluted, base, disgusting; obscene.[2][4][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Of colour, dusky.[5]

Word family

  • spurcidicus
  • spurcificus
  • spurciloquium
  • spurcitia
  • spurcō
  • spurcitiēs
  • spurcē
  • spurcāmen
  • spurcātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ 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
Cite this entry

“Spurcus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/spurcus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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