Etymologically
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vipera

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwiː.pɛ.ra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈviː.pe.ra][1]

Forms

vīpera f (genitive vīperae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.[2] The OLD, Lewis & Short, Köbler and Wiktionary follow Pliny the Elder, who explained it as *vīvipara, from vīvus (“alive”) and pariō (“to give birth”), because the viper was thought to hatch its eggs inside its body.[3][4][5][1] De Vaan rejects this: the sense would fit any mammal, and the form would not contract that way.[2] He prefers Proto-Italic *weip-es-ā-, from a root *wip-/*wib- "to swing, agitate", as in vibrō (“to shake”), with the snake named for its movement or form.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cicero, who calls Clodius a venomous viper that some good men kept in their bosom.[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a viper or any poisonous snake: Virgil, Horace and Propertius use it of snakes in general.[3][4] Pliny the Elder describes how vipers bear their young.[4][3] As a dangerous pet in proverbs, and as a term of abuse, it marks a treacherous person.[3] Church Latin glosses it viper, adder, snake.[6] English viper comes from it, first as ⟨vipera⟩ about 1200, then through Old French; wyvern goes back to the same word through Anglo-French ⟨wivre⟩.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero calls a man a viper.[3][2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of snakes.[4][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder on how vipers give birth.[4][3][5]
  • c. 1200 – English vipera, later viper.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A viper, adder, any poisonous snake.[3][4][6][1]
  2. Figuratively, a dangerous or treacherous person.[3][1]

Word family

  • vibrō
  • English viper
  • English wyvern

References

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