vapidus
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Pronunciation
Forms
vapidus (feminine vapida, neuter vapidum); first/second-declension adjective[1]
Etymology
It is apparently from Latin vapor (“steam”) + -idus,[2][1][3] and the OLD compares vappa (“flat wine”);[2] Georges and Köbler derive it from ⟨vappa⟩.[4][5]
Earliest recorded meaning
Columella is the first to use it, of wine that has gone flat.[2][5][4]
Semantic evolution
It was said of wine that had lost its freshness, as if it had breathed out its spirit,[2][3] and in Persius of pitch that spoils the taste.[3][6] Persius also used it of a corrupt mind: astūtam vapidō servās sub pectore vulpem “under a rotten breast you keep a cunning fox”.[3][4] English vapid was taken from it in the 1650s of flat drinks, and applied from 1758 to dull talk and writing.[7]
Timeline
- 1st century AD – Columella uses it of flat wine.[2][5]
- 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of pitch and of a corrupt heart.[3][5]
- 1650s – English vapid.[7]
Meanings
Adjective
- (of wine) flat, that has lost its freshness, vapid.[2][3]
- Spoiled, bad.[3][4]
- (figurative) Corrupt.[3][6]
Word family
- vapidē
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com