sepu

• IPA^(key): [səpu]
• Hyphenation: se‧pu

sepu

1. to blow

Unknown. Cognate with Oscan sipus and Latin sapiō, itself from Proto-Italic *sapiō. *sapiō may have had a perfect root *sep-, that evolved into the participle *sēp-wōs or *sēp-ues-, then *seph, culminating in the perfect active participle sepu. The linguist Rex Wallace considers this unlikely as terms in other Italic languages from the root *-ues- or *-uos-, such as 𐌅𐌀𐌊𐌖𐌔 (vakus), are passive. Etymological discrepancies may be explainable through scribal error; it is possible the intended form was *sepus mistakenly written as sepu. Wallace contradicts this analysis, suggesting that an -u ending never would have emerged due to syncopation. Alternatively, it may also have merely derived from a Proto-Italic term with a *-u ending; although the linguist Rex Wallace suggests that, if this were true, it would have evolved into *sepus or—through syncopation—into *seps. Another possibility is that it derived from a form such as *sēpūd, although Wallace suggests that is also unlikely due to syncopation and the expected Volscian form would have been *sēpīd. According to Wallace, it is more likely that the term was a verbal adjective based on the root *-ṷo-. The linguist Alex Nussbaum also theorized that it was adjective, reconstructing a derivation from the form *sēp-uwo-. Wallace, however, proposes a derivation from the hypothesized root *sēpṷōd via vowel syncopation, akin to the derivation of estu from *estōd.

sepu m (ablative singular)

1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include: knowing

sepu (ablative singular)

1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include: knowing

• 1985 December 31, Rex Wallace, “Volscian sepu/Oscan sipus”, in Indogermanische Forschungen (1985)‎^[1], volume 90, number 1985, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 123–128:
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN