cupiditas
Latin edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From cupidus (“desiring”) + -tās (“ty”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /kuˈpi.di.taːs/, [kʊˈpɪd̪ɪt̪äːs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /kuˈpi.di.tas/, [kuˈpiːd̪it̪äs]
Noun edit
cupiditās f (genitive cupiditātis); third declension
- desire (deemed good, neutral or bad)
- 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.
- 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.
- cupidity, avarice, greed, covetousness
Usage notes edit
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 edit
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 edit
Descendants edit
- Old Ligurian: covea
- Montferrat Piedmontese: covèia
- Old French: cobetad
- Old Occitan: cobeitat
- → English: cupidity
- → French: cupidité
- → Italian: cupidità
- ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *cupidietās
- Old French: coveitié
- ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *cupidĭtia
References edit
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cupiditas”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, pages 1551–1552
Further reading edit
- “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)
- to be consumed by the fires of ambition: gloriae, laudis cupiditate incensum esse, flagrare