papae Latin · revision 36954

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc παπαῖ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [paˈpae̯]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [paˈpɛː]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''papae''' (interjection)^(OLD 2012)

+ Manuscripts often write it ''pape''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The OLD and Lewis and Short equate it with Greek, so that it is [[bor|grc|παπαῖ|tr=papaî]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Wiktionary takes it as an onomatopoeic interjection shared by the languages of the Mediterranean, cognate with the Greek one, and compares [[m|la|babae]].^(Wiktionary) The grammarian Audax already noted its Greek origin.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found first in Plautus,^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) where it voices pain or alarm, astonishment or delight; in the ''Stichus'' a character cries ''papae! dūcam hodiē amīcam'', “wow! I'll take a girlfriend today”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The TLL finds it in the comic poets (Plautus, Terence, Afranius), in Varro and Persius and in a few later writers, besides the grammarians and scholiasts, who list it among interjections of joy and, now and then, of pain.^(TLL) Terence uses it for surprise, also ironically,^(OLD 2012) and Persius in a mocking question.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Jerome still uses it in a letter.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval British writers kept it as a cry of amazement: in Osbern's life of Dunstan a speaker exclaims how quick someone is to pity the wretched, and Fortescue uses it to introduce his own surprise.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for pain, alarm, astonishment and delight.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for astonishment and ironic surprise.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 34–62 AD – Persius uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it in a letter.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Interjection===

+ # Expressing pain or [[m|en|alarm]]: oh dear!^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # Expressing [[m|en|astonishment]]: wow!, well I never!, also ironically.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # Expressing [[m|en|delight]]: hurrah!^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Grammarians disagreed about its sound: one held that the first vowel was long, another called the word an iamb, and several put the accent on the second syllable.^(TLL) In manuscripts it is sometimes confused with [[babae]] and with [[papa]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}