epulum

Latin

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep- (“grab, snatch, get”), a “banquet” as an “opportunity to grab food”, with a cognate in Old High German uoba (“celebration”); the same root may be compounded in sollemnis. A derivation from *h₃ep- (“to work”) seems impossible in view of the h₃. [1]

Pronunciation

Noun

epulum n (genitive epulī); second declension

  1. feast, banquet, festive entertainment
    Synonyms: epulae, convīvium, dominium, cōmissātiō, fēsta, daps, alogia
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 1.78–80:
      “Tū mihi quodcumque hoc rēgnī, tū scēptra Iovemque
      conciliās, tū dās epulīs accumbere dīvum,
      nimbōrumque facīs tempestātumque potentem.”
      “You [win] for me whatsoever sort of kingdom this [is], you secure [for me] a scepter and [favor from] Jupiter, you grant [to me the privilege] to recline at the feasts of the gods, and you confer [on me the] power of clouds and of storms.”
      (King Aeolus speaks with humble respect to Queen Juno; note the word repetition or anaphora: “You…, you…, you…, you….”)
  2. (in the plural) dishes, meats
  3. (in the plural, figuratively) food

Usage notes

The plural form epulae f may be treated as a separate plurale tantum, with epulum a singulare tantum. There is a single possible attestation of a neuter plural.[2]

Declension

Second-declension (neuter) noun in the singular; first-declension (feminine) noun in the plural.

singular plural
nominative epulum epulae
genitive epulī epulārum
dative epulō epulīs
accusative epulum epulās
ablative epulō epulīs
vocative epulum epulae

References

  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “epulum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 192
  2. ^ Fronto, De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.6.8

Further reading

  • “epulum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “epulum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "epulum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • “epulum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) to load the tables with the most exquisite viands: mensas exquisitissimis epulis instruere (Tusc. 5. 21. 62)
    • (ambiguous) during dinner; at table: inter cenam, inter epulas
    • (ambiguous) to entertain, regale a person: accipere aliquem (bene, copiose, laute, eleganter, regio apparatu, apparatis epulis)
  • “epulum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
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