putus1
Meaning
- adjectiverarepure
In foedere quod inter populum Rōmānum et Carthāginiēnsēs factum est, scrīptum invenītur, ut Carthāginiēnsēs quotannīs populō Rōmānō darent certum pondus argentī pūrī putī, quaesītumque est, quid esset pūrum putum. respondī ego putum esse valdē pūrum.
1st century BCE, P. Alfenus Varus, Aulus Gellius' Noctes Atticae 7.5.1
Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Purus · Mundus · Merus · Putus · Meracus
1. Purus (ψωρός) denotes purity, as a synonyme of integer, and in opp. to contaminatus, like καθαρός, Suet. Vesp. 9; whereas mundus, as a synonyme of nitidus, and in opp. to spurcus or sordidus, like κομψός; Senec. Ep. 70. Sall. Jug. 85. Hor. Sat. ii. 1, 65; lastly, merus (from μείρω) as a synonyme of simplex, and in opp. to mixtus, like ἀκήρατος, ἀκέραιος. Colum. iii. 21. 2. Purus is the general and popular, putus, or usually purus putus, purus ac putus, the technical expression for the purity of gold and silver, that are solid and without alloy. 3. Merus denotes anything unmixed, indifferently, or with praise, as a mixture may be an adulteration; whereas meracus refers especially to unmixed wine, and, figuratively, it is transferred to other objects, and means unmixed in a bad sense, as that which is without its proper ingredients, like the old German word, eitel, thin and poor in quality, in opp. to temperatus. Cic. Rep. i. 43. (iii. 204.)
Declension
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | putus | puta | putum |
| genitive | putī | putae | putī |
| dative | putō | putae | putō |
| accusative | putum | putam | putum |
| ablative | putō | putā | putō |
| vocative | pute | puta | putum |
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | putī | putae | puta |
| genitive | putōrum | putārum | putōrum |
| dative | putīs | putīs | putīs |
| accusative | putōs | putās | puta |
| ablative | putīs | putīs | putīs |
| vocative | putī | putae | puta |
in foedere ... scriptum invenitur, ut Carthaginienses populo Romano darent certum pondus argenti puri puti. Quaesitum est, quid esset purum putum. Respondi esse purum putum valde purum ... Argentum putum dictum esse quasi exputatum excoctumque omnique alienā materiā carens, Gell. 6, 5, 1: amicula pura puta, procera, etc., Varr. ap. Non. 27, 28: hecatombe pura ac puta, pure and clear, id. ib. 27, 24: Polumachaeroplagides, Purus putus est ipsus, it's the very man himself, Plaut. Ps. 4, 2, 31: purus putus hic sycophanta est, a sycophant out and out, a genuine sycophant, id. ib. 4, 7, 103.—Without purus: sole exorto puto, Varr. R. R. 2, 2, 10.—Sup.: quam bonam meis putissimis orationibus gratiam retulerit, my exceedingly pure, brilliant speeches, Cic. Att. 2, 9, 1.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
Uncertain. Potentially from earlier *ph₁u-tós or *ph₂u-tós, alternatively from *puHtós if pretonic shortening ("Dybo's law") affected words of this shape (however, Schrijver argues that such shortening in Latin was likely restricted to cases where a liquid followed the vowel, citing invītus as counterevidence). Zair doubts that Schrijver is correct to distinguish between outcomes of preconsonantal *CHu- and *CuH-, arguing that *CHu- probably became *CuH- by metathesis already in Proto-Indo-European. Based on the meaning of the derived verb putō, the original sense of the adjective is assumed to have been "cut" or "cut off". Schrijver proposes this developed along the lines of "pruned" > "cleansed" > "clean, pure". *Possibly from a root *peh₂w- (“to hit, strike”) shared with paviō (“to beat, strike”) and Ancient Greek παίω (paíō). De Vaan cites Janda 2000, who postulates that *peh₂w- was extended from an earlier root *peh₂-, and that pūrus (“pure”) and Proto-Indo-European *puHrós (“wheat/a type of grain”) are also cognate. The "strike" root has alternatively been reconstructed as going back to an earlier *pyeh₂w-. *In contrast, Schrijver derives putus from earlier *ph₁u-tós, from a root *peh₁w- (“to cut”), distinct both from the root of paviō (which Schriver derives from *peh₂w- (“to hit, strike”)) and from the root of pūrus (which Schrijver derives from *puh₂-, from a root *ph₂u- related to the PIE word for fire (see *péh₂wr̥ (“fire”). Schrijver rejects the comparison of Latin putus and Sanskrit पूत (pūtá).
In English words that came into English from putus
- countcomputō
- accountcomputō
- disputedisputo
- deputydeputatus
- putativeputātīvus
- computecomputō
- amputateamputō
- reputereputō
- imputeimputō
- amputeeamputatus
- deputedeputo
- imp*imputō
- putamenputāmen