cupiditas

Latin

Alternative forms

• *cupidietās, *cupiditia (Vulgar Latin)

Etymology

From cupidus (“desiring”) +‎ -tās (“ty”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kuˈpi.di.taːs/, [kʊˈpɪd̪ɪt̪äːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kuˈpi.di.tas/, [kuˈpiːd̪it̪äs]

Noun

cupiditās f (genitive cupiditātis); third declension

1. desire (deemed good, neutral or bad)
2. lust, passion
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.2:

     Is, M. Messālā et M. Pupio Pīsōne cōnsulibus, rēgnī cupiditāte inductus coniūrātiōnem nōbilitātis fēcit, et cīvitātī persuāsit ut dē fīnibus suīs cum omnibus cōpiīs exīrent: perfacile esse, cum virtūte omnibus praestārent, tōtīus Galliae imperiō potīrī.

     He, with Marcus Messala and Marcus Piso being consuls, incited by a lust for power, formed a conspiracy amongst the nobility, and persuaded the people to come forth from their lands with all of their possessions, [saying] that it would be very easy, as they were all distinguished in valor, to acquire the supremacy over all of Gaul.

   • 55 BCE, Cicero, De Oratore 1.43:

     coercere omnes cupiditates

     to control all of one's lusts

3. cupidity, avarice, greed, covetousness

Usage notes

According to scholars such as Döderlein, the difference between cupīdō and cupiditās is that cupīdō is seen as active desire, whereas cupiditās is more of a passive desire of passion that befalls someone as a state of mind. Cupīdō concerns especially possessions and money. Cupiditas is used as desire for goods of any kind.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cupiditās	cupiditātēs
Genitive	cupiditātis	cupiditātum
Dative	cupiditātī	cupiditātibus
Accusative	cupiditātem	cupiditātēs
Ablative	cupiditāte	cupiditātibus
Vocative	cupiditās	cupiditātēs

Related terms

• cupīdō

Descendants

• Old Ligurian: covèa
• Montferrat Piedmontese: covèia
• Franco-Provençal: coveizi (through *cupitia with change of suffix)
• Old French: cobetad
• Old Occitan: cobeitat
• → English: cupidity
• → French: cupidité
• → Italian: cupidità
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *cupidietās
  • Old French: coveitié
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *cupidĭtia
  • → Catalan: cobdícia
  • Old Catalan: cobesa, cobeea, cobea, cobeesa
  • Old Occitan: cobezeza
    • Gascon: cobedessa
    • Languedocien: cobesiá
    • Provençal: cobesiá
    • Vivaro-Alpine: cobesiá, cobesia
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: cobiiça
    • Galician: cobiza
    • Portuguese: cobiça
  • → Old Spanish: cubdicia
    • Spanish: codicia

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cupiditas”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, pages 1551–1552

Further reading

• “cupiditas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cupiditas in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be consumed by the fires of ambition: gloriae, laudis cupiditate incensum esse, flagrare
    
  • to kindle ambition in some one's mind: aliquem cupiditate honorum inflammare (or aliquem ad cupiditatem honorum inflammare)
    
  • love of truth: veri videndi, investigandi cupiditas
    
  • to be fired with desire of a thing: cupiditate alicuius rei accensum, inflammatum esse
    
  • to have an ardent longing for a thing: cupiditate alicuius rei ardere, flagrare
    
  • to rouse a person's interest, cupidity: cupiditatem alicuius accendere
    
  • to rouse a person's interest, cupidity: aliquem ad cupiditatem incitare
    
  • to rouse a person's interest, cupidity: aliquem cupiditate inflammare
    
  • to be blinded by passions: cupiditatibus occaecari (Fin. 1. 10. 33)
    
  • to be the slave of one's desires: cupiditatibus servire, pārēre
    
  • to overcome one's passions: imperare cupiditatibus
    
  • to overcome one's passions: coercere, cohibere, continere, domitas habere cupiditates
    
  • to bridle one's desires: refrenare cupiditates, libidines
    
  • unrestrained, unbridled lust: effrenatae cupiditates
    
  • unrestrained, unbridled lust: indomitae animi cupiditates
    
  • to satisfy one's desires: cupiditates explere, satiare
    
  • the passions have cooled down: cupiditates deferbuerunt (Cael. 18. 43)