turpo

Forms

turpō (present infinitive turpāre, perfect active turpāvī, supine turpātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin turpis (“ugly, foul, shameful”) + -ō.^[2][1][3] The origin of the adjective is unknown: de Vaan rejects the comparison by Walde and Hofmann and by Pokorny with Sanskrit त्रपते (trapate, “to be ashamed”) and a root Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”) as too constructed, and finds a link with torpeō (“to be numb”) no smoother.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Ennius on,^[3] who speaks of the altar of Jupiter defiled with blood, Iovis aram sanguine turpari.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly poetic.^[5] Virgil has hair defiled with blood and grey hair with dust;^[2][5][6] Horace a scar that disfigured a forehead and wrinkles that make someone ugly;^[2][5][6] Tacitus the disfigurement of scabies.^[2][5][6] Pacuvius already uses it of dishonour, ni turpassis vanitudine aetatem tuam, and Livy of a camp nearly tainted by the sedition in the city;^[2][6][4] Statius has it of disgracing one's ancestors.^[2][6][4] Augustine uses it of the monstrous ugliness of an idol, and Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the senses of defiling, befouling and making ugly.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of an altar defiled with blood.^[2][8]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of dishonour.^[2][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a scar disfiguring a forehead.^[2][8]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it.^[6][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make foul, pollute, defile.^[2][5][7]
2. To make unsightly, disfigure.^[2][5][4]
3. (figurative) To dishonour, disgrace.^[2][5][6]

Word family

• dēturpō

Related words

• turpis
• turpitūdō

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. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de