Etymologically
Log in

vipereus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 14:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [wiːˈpɛ.re.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [viˈpɛː.re.us][1]

Forms

vīpereus (feminine vīperea, neuter vīpereum, adverb vīpereē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vīpera (“viper”) + -eus.[2][1] For vīpera de Vaan rejects the old explanation, going back to Pliny, as ⟨vīvo-para⟩ “bearing live young”, on grounds of meaning and form; he prefers, as conceivable though not fully transparent, Proto-Italic *weip-es-ā- from Proto-Indo-European *ueip-es-, a root meaning “to swing, agitate”, also seen in vibrō.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Virgil,[4] who gives Discord vipereum crinem, “snaky hair”, bound with bloody ribbons.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means of or belonging to a viper or similar snake, as Ovid's carnes and dentes and Lucan's venenum.[2][5][6] It is used of mythological serpents and dragons, especially the dragon that Cadmus killed, whose teeth Ovid has sown as vipereos dentes.[2] Of awe-inspiring beings it means made of vipers, snaky, as the hair of Discord in Virgil and the arms of a Fury in Ovid; by extension it is applied to the beings themselves, so that Ovid calls the Furies vipereas sorores and Medusa's head vipereum monstrum.[2][5][6] In medieval British writers it also means viperous, venomous, malignant.[7]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil gives Discord vipereum crinem.[2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus and of the Furies.[2][5]
  • Medieval Latin – It takes on the sense venomous, malignant.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or belonging to a viper or similar snake.[2][5]
  2. Of mythological serpents and dragons, especially the dragon killed by Cadmus.[2]
  3. Made of vipers, snaky; of beings with such hair or attributes, snake-haired.[2][5][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Viperous, venomous, malignant.[7]
  • vīperīnus

Usage notes

The older adjective is vīperīnus, which de Vaan records from Accius on.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 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