stipes

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈstiː.pɛs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈstiː.pes]^[1]

Forms

stīpes m (genitive stīpitis); third declension^[1] Petronius has a nominative stips.^[2][3]

Etymology

The OLD calls it perhaps cognate with stīpō “to pack tight”.^[2] De Vaan reconstructs ⟨stīpō⟩ from an adjective ⟨*stīpo-⟩ “erect, rigid”, Proto-Indo-European *steip-o- (“stiff, erect”), and interprets ⟨stīpes⟩ as “the stiff one”, cognate with Lithuanian stìpti (“to stiffen”) and Old English stīf (“stiff”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Ennius, and the OLD's earliest citations are Catullus and Cicero.^[5][2] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant the trunk or lower part of a tree, a log, as in Catullus and Virgil; a stout stick, stake, post, as in Cicero; and as an insult a blockhead, as in Terence.^[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means stem, trunk, log, post, and a family stock or ancestor.^[7] Medieval Latin used it for an instrument of torture or execution and the right to hang criminals.^[8] English stipe (1785) comes from the related stipa through French.^[9]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a stake.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it as an insult.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trunk (of a tree), log.^[2][3]
2. A stake, post.^[2]
3. (figurative) A blockhead.^[6]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A family stock.^[7]

Word family

• stīpitātus

Related words

• stipō
• stips
• stipula
• stipulor
• stipulus
• stīpendium

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com