scipio Latin · revision 35778

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈskiː.pi.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈʃiː.pi.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scīpiō''' ''m'' (genitive scīpiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan tentatively sets up [[itc-pro|*skeip-]] and [[ine-pro|*sḱeip-o-|t=pole, stick]], with [[grc|σκίπων|alt=σκῑ́πων|tr=skī́pōn|t=staff, stick]] as the cognate, and possibly also [[cippus]];^(de Vaan 2008) but the family is isolated and may go back to loanwords.^(de Vaan 2008) He calls a link with [[sa|शेप|tr=śépa|t=penis]] a wild guess.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Others, like Lewis and Short, connect it with a root ⟨skap-⟩, as in [[m|grc|σκήπτω|tr=skḗptō|t=to prop]] and Latin [[scāpus]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) meaning a [[m|en|staff]] or walking stick: a character in the ''Casina'' is asked what he has done with his staff (''quid fēcistī scīpiōne?'').^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the staff carried by people of wealth or rank,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and especially a ceremonial rod: Livy tells of a knight's staff that caught fire in his hand, and of the ivory staff of men who had celebrated a triumph.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The Senate sent an ivory staff with a golden crown and a curule chair as gifts to friendly kings such as Masinissa,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and under the emperors consuls carried one too.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Döderlein places it, with [[baculum]], among the sticks used for walking, unlike those for striking or thrusting.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ British Medieval Latin glosses it as the rod of consuls and as a kind of hooked staff.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a walking staff.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it for the ivory staff of a triumphing general and of friendly kings.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus mentions it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|staff]], walking stick or cane.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A ceremonial rod or [[m|en|baton]], such as the ivory staff of a triumphing general.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cippus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Scīpiō'' was also a cognomen in the gens Cornelia, borne by the conquerors of Hannibal and of Carthage,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and the name came to stand for a model of excellence.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}