pulpitum

Latin

Etymology

Of obscure origin, but said to be an Ancient Greek borrowing. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, possibly a back-formation from plural pulpita, perhaps (via Etruscan *pulputa or *pulpta), from Ancient Greek πολύποδα (polúpoda), neuter plural of πολύπους (polúpous, “trodden by many feet, having many feet”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpul.pi.tum/, [ˈpʊɫ̪pɪt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpul.pi.tum/, [ˈpulpit̪um]

Noun

pulpitum n (genitive pulpitī); second declension

1. platform, scaffold, or pulpit for public presentations or lectures
2. stage (for actors)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pulpitum	pulpita
Genitive	pulpitī	pulpitōrum
Dative	pulpitō	pulpitīs
Accusative	pulpitum	pulpita
Ablative	pulpitō	pulpitīs
Vocative	pulpitum	pulpita

Related terms

• pulpitō

Descendants

• Catalan: púlpit
• English: pulpit
• French: pupitre
  • Spanish: pupitre
• Italian: pulpito
• Middle High German pulpet
  • German: Pult
    • Russian: пульт (pulʹt)
  • Swedish: pulpet
    • Finnish: pulpetti
• Norwegian: pult
• Portuguese: púlpito
• Romanian: pulpitum
• Spanish: púlpito

References

• “pulpitum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pulpitum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• pulpitum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “pulpitum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “pulpitum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin