nepos

See also: Nepos

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *nepōts, from Proto-Indo-European *népōts.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈne.poːs/, [ˈnɛpoːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈne.pos/, [ˈnɛːpos]
• Homophone: Nepōs

Noun

nepōs m or f (genitive nepōtis); third declension

1. a grandson
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.162-164:

     Et Tyriī comitēs passim et Troiāna iuventūs
     Dardaniusque nepōs Veneris dīversa per agrōs
     tēcta metū petiēre [...].

     And the Tyrian attendants [rush] here and there, and the youth of Troy – and Venus’s Dardan grandson – [they all] in fear seek separate shelters across the fields.
     (Venus’s grandson is Ascanius.)

2. a granddaughter
3. a nephew
4. a niece
5. a descendant
6. (figuratively) a spendthrift, prodigal

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nepōs	nepōtēs
Genitive	nepōtis	nepōtum
Dative	nepōtī	nepōtibus
Accusative	nepōtem	nepōtēs
Ablative	nepōte	nepōtibus
Vocative	nepōs	nepōtēs

Synonyms

• (grandson): prōfīlius (Mediaeval)
• (granddaughter): neptis

Hyponyms

• (nephew): sōbrīnus

Derived terms

• abnepōs
• pronepōs
• nepōtor

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: nipot, nipoatã
  • Romanian: nepot, nepoată
• Dalmatian:
  • nepaut
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: nipote
  • Sicilian: niputi
• North Italian:
  • Emilian: anvod, nvod, nod, nevod, anvaud
  • Friulian: nevôt
  • Ligurian: nêvo, nêu
  • Lombard: nèud, nèu, nevod
  • Piedmontese: anvod, noud, nvod, nod, nòud, novó
  • Romagnol: anvoud, nvoud, anvod
  • Romansch: nev, neiv, neav, nevs
  • Venetian: neodo, neoda, nevódo
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French:

    Early: nevod

    Late: neveu (see there for further descendants)

  • Walloon: neveu
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: nebot
  • Occitan: nebot
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: nabodi, nebode, nebodi, nepode, nepote
• Ancient borrowings:
  • →? Albanian: nip, nipë, nep (plural nipat)
  • → Etruscan: nefts
• Later borrowings:
  • → Danish: nevø
  • → Maltese: neputi
  • → Portuguese: nepote

References

• “1. nĕpos”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nepos”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nepos in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• 1 nĕpōs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, pages 1,024–1,025.
• “nepos”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nepos in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “nepos”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray