locuples

Latin

Etymology

Traditionally derived from locus (“place”) and pleō (“to fill”).^[1] However, Nussbaum (2016) rejects a connection to locus (“place”) for semantic reasons, namely that locus does not refer to possessed land in particular. He instead connects the element locu- with Indo-Iranian terms like Sanskrit राशि (rāśi, “quantity, heap, number”) and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *loḱis as ancestral to the two, making a compound "abundance-filled" in Latin.^[2]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈlo.ku.pleːs/, [ˈɫ̪ɔkʊpɫ̪eːs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlo.ku.ples/, [ˈlɔːkuples]

Adjective

locuplēs (genitive locuplētis, comparative locuplētior, superlative locuplētissimus); third-declension one-termination adjective

possessing large, landed property
rich, wealthy
Synonyms: opulentus, opulens, dives, dis, ditis

Antonyms: inops, pauper, egens
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.279-281:
  ‘cētera luxuriae nōndum īnstrūmenta vigēbant,
  aut pecus aut lātam dīves habēbat humum;
  hinc etiam locuplēs, hinc ipsa pecūnia dicta est.’
  “The other instruments of luxury were not yet thriving: a rich man had either a herd or wide land; hence also [the word for] ‘wealthy’, [and] for this reason ‘money’ itself is named.”
  (The poetic voice is that of Flora (mythology). An owner of much land was ‘loci plenus’ or ‘full of land’, hence ‘locuples’; use of ‘pecunia’ as a word for ‘money’ came from the value of a ‘pecus’, a herd or flock of cattle, sheep or other livestock.)

Declension

Third-declension one-termination adjective.

	masc./fem.	neuter	masc./fem.	neuter
	singular		plural
nominative	locuplēs		locuplētēs	locuplētia
genitive	locuplētis		locuplētium locuplētum
dative	locuplētī		locuplētibus
accusative	locuplētem	locuplēs	locuplētēs	locuplētia
ablative	locuplēte locuplētī		locuplētibus
vocative	locuplēs		locuplētēs	locuplētia

Descendants

→ English: locuplete

References

^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “-pleō (> Derivatives: > locuplēs, -ētis)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 472-3
^ Nussbaum, Alan J. (2016) “Replacing locus ‘place’ in Latin locuplēs”, in Dieter Gunkel, Joshua T. Katz, Brent Vine, Michael Weiss, editors, Sahasram Ati Srajas: Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Studies in Honor of Stephanie W. Jamison‎^[1], Beech Stave Press, →ISBN, retrieved June 5, 2023