vespillo

See also: Vespillo

English

Etymology

From Latin vespillo.

Noun

vespillo (plural vespilloes)

1. (Ancient Rome) One who carried out the dead bodies of the poor at night for burial.
   • 1642, [Thomas Browne], “(please specify the page)”, in Religio Medici, London: […] Andrew Crooke, →OCLC:

     Like vespilloes or gravemakers.

2. A wasp from the genus Vespillo in the family Vespidae.

Latin

Alternative forms

• vispillō, vispilliō, vespelliō, vispiliō, vispelliō

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly a derivative of vespa (“wasp”). Festus describes vespa and vespula as synonyms of vespillo in this sense, but denies a connection to the 'wasp' lexeme and instead gives a (likely folk etymology) derivation of these three terms from vesper (“evening”). Thus, a semantic connection with wasps was apparently not obvious to Festus. Regardless, some modern etymologists have favored this derivation; Benveniste 1923-1924:124f argued that wasps were noted for carrying the body of their prey to their nests. The second element may be the diminutive suffix -illus, followed by -ō, -ōnis m (suffix forming appellations) making the overall structure vespa +‎ -illus +‎ -ō.

De Vaan cites Watkins 1969 for a proposal that the word comes instead from a PIE root for 'clothing' or 'shroud' and is cognate to Hittite [script needed] (wašpaš, “clothes”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /u̯esˈpil.loː/, [u̯ɛs̠ˈpɪlːʲoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /vesˈpil.lo/, [vesˈpilːo]

Noun

vespillō m (genitive vespillōnis); third declension

1. An undertaker who buries paupers.
   • 1839 [8th century CE], Paulus Diaconus, edited by Karl Otfried Müller, Excerpta ex libris Pompeii Festi De significatione verborum, page 368, line 17:

     Vespae et vespillones dicuntur, qui funerandis corporibus officium gerunt, non a minutis illis volucribus, sed quia vespertino tempore eos efferunt, qui funebri pompa duci propter inopiam nequeunt. Hi etiam vespulae vocantur.

     They are called vespae and vespillones, who perform the function of burying corpses, not from those little flying creatures, but because they carry out in the evening [vespertino tempore] those who because of poverty cannot be carried in a funeral procession. They are also called vespulae.

2. A ghoul, graverobber.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	vespillō	vespillōnēs
genitive	vespillōnis	vespillōnum
dative	vespillōnī	vespillōnibus
accusative	vespillōnem	vespillōnēs
ablative	vespillōne	vespillōnibus
vocative	vespillō	vespillōnēs

Further reading

• “vespillo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vespillo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “vespillo”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray