vapor

Forms

vapor m (genitive vapōris); third declension^[1] The old nominative is vapōs, in Accius and cited by Quintilian.^[2][3]

Etymology

De Vaan follows Schrijver: it is inherited from Proto-Italic *kwapōs (“vapour”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kwuh₂ep-s- (“smoke”), with loss of the first consonant.^[3][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek καπνός (kapnós, “smoke”) and Lithuanian kvãpas (“smoke”).^[3][4] The OLD instead compares Sanskrit वाति (vā́ti, “blows”), and Köbler a root Proto-Indo-European *wēp- (“to blow, steam”).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Pacuvius as its first author,^[3] who has the sun scorching the earth's produce “with flaming heat”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is an exhalation or vapour, especially from something heated, as Cicero's vapours raised by the sun from warmed fields and waters, and steam from boiling liquid in Lucretius.^[2][4] From the start it is also heat or warmth, especially of the sun, as in Pacuvius, and the burning of fever or of passion, as Seneca's Hercules “not the Ocean will quench my fires”.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “vapor, steam, exhalation, mist, warmth”.^[6]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of the sun's heat.^[2][3][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius with the old nominative vapōs.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of steam.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of exhalations raised by the sun.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English, by way of Anglo-French, as vapour.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An exhalation, vapour; steam; smoke.^[2][1]
2. Heat, warmth (especially of the sun).^[2][1]
3. The heat of fever; the ardour of passion.^[2][1]

Word family

• vapidus
• vapōrālis
• vapōrārium
• vapōrifer
• vapōrō
• vapōrōsus
• vapōrus

Related words

• vapidē
• vapōrātē
• vapōrātiō
• vappa
• calor
• English vapour

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com