# cupiditas
## Latin
### Alternative forms

* *cupidietās, *cupiditia (Vulgar Latin)

### Etymology

From cupidus (“desiring”) +‎ -tās (“ty”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /kuˈpi.di.taːs/, [kʊˈpɪd̪ɪt̪äːs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /kuˈpi.di.tas/, [kuˈpiːd̪it̪äs]

### 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, [saying] that it would be very easy, as they were all distinguished in valor, to acquire the supremacy over all of Gaul.
** 55 BCE, Cicero, De Oratore 1.43:coercere omnes cupiditatesto control all of one's lusts
* 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.

#### Related terms

* cupīdō

#### Descendants

* Old Ligurian: covèa
* Montferrat Piedmontese: covèia
* Franco-Provençal: coveizi (through *cupitia with change of suffix)
* Old French: cobetad
* Old Occitan: cobeitat
* → English: cupidity
* → French: cupidité
* → Italian: cupidità
* ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *cupidietās
** Old French: coveitié
* ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *cupidĭtia
** Italian: cupidigia
** Old Catalan: cobesa, cobeea, cobea, cobeesa
** → Catalan: cobdícia
** Old Occitan: cobezeza
*** Gascon: cobedessa
*** Languedocien: cobesiá
*** Provençal: cobesiá
*** Vivaro-Alpine: cobesiá, cobesia
** Old Galician-Portuguese: cobiiça
*** Galician: cobiza
*** Portuguese: cobiça
** → Old Spanish: cubdicia
*** Spanish: codicia

### References

* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cupiditas”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, pages 1551–1552

### 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)