puppis Latin · revision 31661

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpʊp.pɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpup.pis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''puppis''' ''f'' (genitive puppis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The accusative is usually ''puppim'', but ''puppem'' occurs in Ovid and Lucan.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The ablative is usually ''puppī'', with ''puppe'' sometimes in verse.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ De Vaan gives no etymology, and the OLD calls it doubtful.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) The TLL reports the view that sailors may have called a figure of a god set at the stern ⟨pupus⟩ or ⟨pupa⟩, and that the name then passed to the whole stern; but there is no evidence for this, and the double ⟨pp⟩ is no easier to explain.^(TLL) Pokorny compared [[pl|pupa|t=bottom, rear]] and [[grc|πύματος|tr=púmatos|t=last]], from a root [[ine-pro|*pu-]] related to [[ine-pro|*h₂epó|alt=*apo|t=away]], a link Wiktionary treats as uncertain.^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) The historian Sisenna writes of sterns covered with rags soaked in vinegar.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the stern or poop of a ship, where the helmsman stood, and it is often used in phrases of direction.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) By metonymy it meant the ship itself, a poetic use: Catullus has the Argonauts dare to run over the salt sea in a swift ship, and Quintilian notes that it is not a prose usage.^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary also records a figurative use for a person's backside.^(Wiktionary) Church Latin glosses it “stern of a ship, ship”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ Through Italian or Old Provençal ''poppa'' and Old French ''poupe'' it gave English [[m|en|poop]] “stern” (c. 1400); the constellation [[m|en|Puppis]], a division of Argo, was named from it in the late 18th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 120–67 BC – Sisenna of sterns.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a ship.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English [[m|en|poop]] through French.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 18th century – the constellation [[m|en|Puppis]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|stern]] or [[m|en|poop]] of a ship.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(poetic)'' A [[m|en|ship]], boat.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(figurative)'' The backside of a person.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|poop]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}