View Message

[Facts] etymology of latin 'ulpiano' and 'lupian'
I would like to know the etymology of the word 'ulpiano' and 'lupian'.
vote up1vote down

Replies

I don't know about Ulpiano, but Lupian probably comes from "lupus", the wolf?
vote up1vote down
lup probably does come from lupus, and ian means belonging to, so translated I guess this name means belonging to the wolf?
vote up1vote down
-ianus simply forms adjectives base on the root noun, so it has a wide range of meanings depending on context, not just "belonging to", including "of" "for" "beside" "from" "like" etc.Ulpiano seems to signify someone from a location (e.g. Municipum Ulpiana in Kosovo) named for the Ulpii family or an individual of the family, esp. emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajan. Ulpius/Ulpia doesn't mean anything in Latin, but the Ulpii were an Umbrian family, so it may be from the poorly recorded Umbrian language and cognate with wolf, lupus, lukos etc.

This message was edited 11/20/2019, 3:09 AM

vote up1vote down