vespillo

== English == === Etymology === From Latin vespillo. === Noun === vespillo (plural vespilloes) (Ancient Rome) One who carried out the dead bodies of the poor at night for burial. 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): [wɛsˈpɪl.loː] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [vesˈpil.lo] === Noun === vespillō m (genitive vespillōnis); third declension an undertaker who buries paupers Near-synonyms: pollīnctor / pollictor, libitīnārius a ghoul, graverobber ==== Declension ==== Third-declension noun. === References === === 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