illepidus Latin · revision 36055

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la lepidus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪlˈlɛ.pɪ.dʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ilˈlɛː.pi.dus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''illepidus''' (feminine illepida, neuter illepidum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ⟨inlepidus⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|lepidus|t1=not|t2=charming, elegant]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) De Vaan lists it with [[m|la|lepidus]] among the derivatives of [[m|la|lepōs|t=charm]]; he tentatively reconstructs [[itc-pro|*lep-i-þo-|t=peeled; charming]] and compares [[grc|λέπω|tr=lépō|t=to peel]], but calls the semantic link with the Greek words not compelling.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found first in Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) whose ''Bacchides'' has a speaker call himself unlovable and ''illepidus''.^(TLL)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means lacking grace or refinement, said first of people:^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) the comic poet Caecilius has a father who is mean, ''illepidus'' and hard on his children,^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Catullus uses it of a friend's ''deliciae'', his darling, and says a young woman is not ''illepidum''.^(TLL)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ Of things it meant tasteless or absurd: Catullus has a vow that is not ''illepidum'', Pliny the Younger a saying of the people of Baetica that is not without wit, and Gellius words of a harsh, graceless novelty.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) The adverb ''illepide'' occurs in Plautus and Horace.^(TLL) De Vaan notes that ''lepidus'' and its family drop out of use after Cicero,^(de Vaan 2008) but British medieval writers still used ''illepidus'' for lacking refinement or wit.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of an unlovable man.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius uses it of a mean father.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a friend's darling and of a vow.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of harsh new words.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # (of persons) Lacking grace or refinement, [[m|en|unmannerly]], disagreeable.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+ # (of things) Tasteless, [[m|en|absurd]], without wit.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lepidus]]

+ * [[lepōs]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}