Etymologically
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upupa

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈʊ.pʊ.pa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈuː.pu.pa][1]

Forms

upupa f (genitive upupae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is an onomatopoeic word, imitating the bird's call, of a kind found in many languages in similar forms.[2][3][1] De Vaan compares Ancient Greek ἐποποῖ (epopoî) and ποποπό (popopó), the hoopoe's cry, ἔποψ (épops, “hoopoe”), Polish hupek, Low German Hupphupp, Old High German wituhopfo and Old Saxon widohoppa (“hoopoe”).[2] Köbler sets up Proto-Indo-European *epop- for the call and the bird.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in a pun: in the Captivi a man arriving at the quarries says he has been given an upupa to amuse himself with, as patrician boys are given quails to play with, meaning a pickaxe.[3][6][4] The bird itself is first named by Varro.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The OLD explains the tool as a pick or crowbar shaped like the hoopoe's bill.[3] Pliny the Elder writes about the bird,[8][7] and the Vulgate has it among the unclean birds of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.[6]

Gerald of Wales says it nests in its own dung, and Bartholomew the Englishman calls it a most unclean bird, crested as if with a helmet, that eats filth and lives among tombs and dung.[9] English glossaries identified it with the lapwing, an error William Turner rejected.[9] Italian keeps upupa,[7] and English hoopoe, from the 1660s, is from the Latin.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a pickaxe, punning on the bird.[3][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro names the bird.[2][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of the hoopoe.[8][7]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate lists it among the unclean birds.[6][4]
  • 1660s – English hoopoe is first recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The hoopoe, Upupa epops.[3][8][2]
  2. A kind of pickaxe or crowbar, named from the shape of the bird's bill.[3][2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) In glosses, the lapwing.[9]
  • epops
  • English hoopoe

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c 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
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com