caupo Latin · revision 4909
16 Oct 2026, 00:31 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=Plautus}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkau̯.poː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaːu̯.po]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''caupō''' ''m'' (genitive caupōnis, feminine caupōna); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+ Also spelt ''cōpō'', as in Cicero.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is a borrowing from an unknown source, in view of [[grc|κάπηλος|tr=kápēlos|t=huckster, innkeeper]] probably from a Mediterranean language.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary notes that the Greek word may be Pre-Greek and that the two were probably borrowed separately, and finds a derivation from [[ine-pro|*kʷreyh₂-|t=to buy]] far-fetched.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ In Classical Latin it was a shopkeeper or huckster, and especially an innkeeper, as Cicero's innkeeper on the Via Latina.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) The derivatives [[caupōna]] “inn” and ''caupōnārī'' “to traffic in” came from it.^(de Vaan 2008)
+
+ Early Germanic borrowings of it and of ''caupōnārī'' gave Old English ''cēap'' “trade, purchase”, the source of English ''cheap'' and ''chapman'', and German ''kaufen'' “to buy”.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses ''caupōnārī''.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions an innkeeper on the Via Latina.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 1500 – English ''cheap'' is recorded as an adjective.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A shopkeeper, [[m|en|huckster]], tradesman.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # An [[m|en|innkeeper]], tavern-keeper.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[caupōna]]
+ * [[caupōnius]]
+ * [[caupōnor]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|cheap]]
+ * [[en|chapman]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}