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cupiditas. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cupiditas, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cupiditas in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Latin
Etymology
From cupidus (“desiring”) + -tās (“ty”).
Pronunciation
Noun
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, that it would be very easy, as they were all distinguished in valor, to acquire the supremacy over all of Gaul.
- cupidity, avarice, greed, covetousness
Usage notes
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
Third-declension noun.
Descendants
References
Further reading
- “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, 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)