vipereus Latin · revision 34326

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=la vīpera}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [wiːˈpɛ.re.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [viˈpɛː.re.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vīpereus''' (feminine vīperea, neuter vīpereum, adverb vīpereē); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|vīpera|-eus|t1=viper]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) For [[m|la|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, [[itc-pro|*weip-es-ā-]] from [[ine-pro|*ueip-es-]], a root meaning “to swing, agitate”, also seen in [[m|la|vibrō]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in Virgil,^(Köbler 2010) who gives Discord ''vipereum crinem'', “snaky hair”, bound with bloody ribbons.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means of or belonging to a viper or similar snake, as Ovid's ''carnes'' and ''dentes'' and Lucan's ''venenum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) It is used of mythological serpents and dragons, especially the dragon that Cadmus killed, whose teeth Ovid has sown as ''vipereos dentes''.^(OLD 2012) 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''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) In medieval British writers it also means viperous, venomous, malignant.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil gives Discord ''vipereum crinem''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus and of the Furies.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * Medieval Latin – It takes on the sense venomous, malignant.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or belonging to a [[m|en|viper]] or similar snake.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of mythological [[m|en|serpent|alt=serpents]] and [[m|en|dragon|alt=dragons]], especially the dragon killed by Cadmus.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Made of vipers, [[m|en|snaky]]; of beings with such hair or attributes, snake-haired.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|viperous|alt=Viperous]], [[m|en|venomous]], malignant.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vīperīnus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The older adjective is [[vīperīnus]], which de Vaan records from Accius on.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}