salaputium
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Latin
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Oscan; the breakdown of this otherwise unattested Oscan word would be *sal- (“salt”) + *pū- (“to purify”) + *-t- (root noun suffix for laryngeal-final roots) + *-iom (abstract suffix). The compound is a metaphor for how refined one's own wit ("salt") may be.[1]
The -a- between the first two elements is regular in Oscan to break up word-medial consonant clusters.
Noun
[edit]salapūtium n (genitive salapūtiī or salapūtī); second declension
- term of unclear meaning; see usage notes
Usage notes
[edit]- This word occurs only once within the Latin literature (hapax legomenon) and only in nominative case, as a humorous description of something Catullus's friend Calvus did or is.
- Its meaning was obscure already in Roman times, with Seneca the Elder interpreting the term as referring to Calvus's own short stature. See Weiss (1996) for etymology and interpretations.
Declension
[edit]Second-declension noun (neuter).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | salapūtium | salapūtia |
| Genitive | salapūtiī salapūtī1 |
salapūtiōrum |
| Dative | salapūtiō | salapūtiīs |
| Accusative | salapūtium | salapūtia |
| Ablative | salapūtiō | salapūtiīs |
| Vocative | salapūtium | salapūtia |
1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).
References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “salaputium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “salaputium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- salaputium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.