stloppus

Forms

stloppus m (genitive stloppī); second declension^[1] The OLD, Gaffiot and Conte head it as scloppus, a spelling of the manuscripts.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is onomatopoeic, imitating the sound.^[1][5][6] The manuscripts spell the stem in many ways (stlop-, stolp-, sclopp-, scop- among them); Wiktionary explains them most simply from an original /stl/, which became /skl/ in the inherited Romance words, as /tl/ became /kl/ in vetulus and veclus, and Italian scoppio shows a further metathesis.^[1] Walde gives the spoken form as Vulgar Latin *scloppus.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only classical record is in the Satires of Persius (34–62 AD): nec scloppo tumidas intendis rumpere buccas, “nor do you try to burst your puffed-out cheeks with a pop”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries cite it only from this line of Persius, for the sound of a slap on puffed-out cheeks.^[7][8][3] It lived on in the inherited Romance words with /skl/.^[1]

Timeline

• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it for the pop of puffed-out cheeks.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slapping sound, the pop made by striking puffed-out cheeks.^[7][8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell