vipera Latin · revision 32652

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈwiː.pɛ.ra]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈviː.pe.ra]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vīpera''' ''f'' (genitive vīperae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is disputed.^(de Vaan 2008) The OLD, Lewis & Short, Köbler and Wiktionary follow Pliny the Elder, who explained it as *vīvipara, from [[m|la|vīvus|t=alive]] and [[m|la|pariō|t=to give birth]], because the viper was thought to hatch its eggs inside its body.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan rejects this: the sense would fit any mammal, and the form would not contract that way.^(de Vaan 2008) He prefers [[itc-pro|*weip-es-ā-]], from a root *wip-/*wib- "to swing, agitate", as in [[m|la|vibrō|t=to shake]], with the snake named for its movement or form.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==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.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a viper or any poisonous snake: Virgil, Horace and Propertius use it of snakes in general.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder describes how vipers bear their young.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) As a dangerous pet in proverbs, and as a term of abuse, it marks a treacherous person.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it viper, adder, snake.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|viper]] comes from it, first as ⟨vipera⟩ about 1200, then through Old French; [[m|en|wyvern]] goes back to the same word through Anglo-French ⟨wivre⟩.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero calls a man a viper.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of snakes.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder on how vipers give birth.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1200 – English ''vipera'', later ''viper''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|viper]], [[m|en|adder]], any poisonous snake.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Figuratively, a dangerous or treacherous person.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vīperālis]]

+ * [[vīpereus]]

+ * [[vīperīnus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vibrō]]

+ * [[en|viper]]

+ * [[en|wyvern]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}