saepes

Latin

Alternative forms

sēpēs

Etymology

Uncertain. Pokorny compares Ancient Greek αἱμός (haimós, “thicket”) for Proto-Indo-European *seh₂i-p- (“to cram, fence”), but this is phonetically unlikely. Possibly from an extension of *sh₂ey- (“to bind, fetter”) in any case. Cognate with saepis, saepiō. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈsae̯.peːs]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛː.pes]

Noun

saepēs f (genitive saepis); third declension

hedge, fence
- c. 41 BCE – 39 BCE, Vergilius, Eclogae I.53–54:
  hinc tibi, quae semper, vicino ab limite saepes
  Hyblaeis apibus florem depasta salicti
  Translation by James Bradstreet Greenough
  Here, as of old, your neighbour's bordering hedge, that feasts with willow-flower the Hybla bees, […]

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	saepēs	saepēs
genitive	saepis	saepium
dative	saepī	saepibus
accusative	saepem	saepēs saepīs
ablative	saepe	saepibus
vocative	saepēs	saepēs

Descendants

Italo-Romance:
- Italian: siepe
⇒ Late Latin: sēpēs (see there for further descendants)

Through the Vulgar derivates *saepālis, *saepīlis:

Italo-Romance:
- Italian: sepale
- Neapolitan: sepale
- Sicilian: sipala
Gallo-Italic:
- Old Ligurian: sevale
Gallo-Romance:
- Gascon: sübiu
- Old French: sevil
  - Bourbonnais-Berrichon: sevau

References

“saepes”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“saepes”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
“saepes”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Pokorny, Julius (1959), “saip-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 878
Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911), “saepes”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 563