Etymologically
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vapulo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwaː.pʊ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈvaː.pu.lo][1]

Forms

vāpulō (present infinitive vāpulāre, perfect active vāpulāvī, supine vāpulātum); first conjugation, impersonal in the passive[1]

Etymology

It probably meant first “to cry out in pain”, and is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂p- (“to cry, wail”), probably an onomatopoeic root, with the ending of ēiulō (“to wail”).[2][1] The OLD makes it cognate with the Gothic verb for weeping and with English weep.[2] Lewis & Short instead suggested a root meaning to wriggle or flutter.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[4] who uses it of being beaten and as a curse, as in the Asinaria, where an exchange of insults ends with “get thrashed!”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is active in form but passive in meaning: to be beaten or thrashed, as Terence's character who says that he by being beaten and the other by beating are both worn out.[2][3] In imprecations the imperative is a curse, and vāpulā Papīria was a proverbial taunt of uncertain meaning.[2] Of things it means to be battered by natural forces, as Varro's olives that shrivel when they have been beaten from the tree.[2] Figuratively it means to be afflicted, ruined or defeated, as in Plautus' “I am beaten under the rule of Venus”.[2] Church Latin glosses it to be flogged, lashed, afflicted or beaten, and to cry out.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of being beaten, as a curse, and of being afflicted by love.[2][4]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of being worn out by a beating.[3][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of olives beaten from the tree.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be beaten, thrashed or flogged.[2][3][5][1]
  2. In curses, “be thrashed!”.[2][1]
  3. Of things, to be battered by natural forces.[2][1]
  4. To be afflicted, ruined; to be defeated.[2][1]

Word family

  • vāpulāris
  • English weep

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 m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson