bipedalis Latin · revision 35939

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la pēs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [bɪ.pɛˈdaː.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [bi.peˈdaː.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bipedālis''' (neuter bipedāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|bi-|pēs|-ālis|t2=foot]], “of two feet”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) The TLL compares the related forms [[m|la|bipedus]] and [[m|la|bipedāneus]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first known use is in Cato's ''De agricultura'', of bars for windows of two feet.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a common measure of length, breadth, height or thickness: Varro uses it of forked props, Caesar of beams and timber two feet thick, and Vitruvius of walls, steps and tiles.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero jokes that the sun perhaps seems two feet across to Epicurus;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace has a man two feet tall from top to toe, and Suetonius a youth shorter than two feet.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder uses it of the height of a plant and Columella of width.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) As a neuter noun, ''bipedāle'' named a tile two feet long, in inscriptions on bricks.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(TLL)

+

+ In British medieval Latin it also meant two-footed, of a two-footed creature, and, in Alcuin, consisting of two metrical feet.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of window bars.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of props.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of beams two feet thick.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of walls and tiles.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a youth's height.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Two [[m|en|foot|alt=feet]] long, broad, high or thick.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|biped|alt=Two-footed]]; of two metrical feet.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(neuter, bipedāle)'' A [[m|en|tile]] two feet long.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}