# sepia
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sēpia (“cuttlefish”), from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía). Cognate with Italian seppia, Portuguese siba, and Spanish sepia.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈsiːpiə/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːpiə

### Noun

sepia (countable and uncountable, plural sepias)
* (uncountable) A dark brown pigment made from the secretions of the cuttlefish. [from 1820s]
** 1930, A[loys] Merz, M[orris] Rea Paul, “Sepia”, in “Notes on Color Names”, in A Dictionary of Color, New York City: McGraw-Hill, page 179:Sepia had some use in ancient times as a writing ink, and in modern times has has occasionally been used as a pigment, but it never attained any popularity, as it is extremely fugitive.
* (uncountable) A dark, slightly reddish, brown colour.
    sepia:
* (by extension, countable) A sepia-coloured drawing or photograph.
* (archaic, countable) A cuttlefish. [from 16th c.]

#### Related terms

* sepian
* sepiolite

#### See also

* Appendix:Colors
* black and white
* color
* cuttlefish
* ink sac

### Adjective

sepia (comparative more sepia, superlative most sepia)
* Of a dark reddish-brown colour.
** 1963, Margery Allingham, “Miss Thyrza’s Chair”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 41:Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.
** 1998 November 22, Lance Parkin, “Infinity and Beyond” (chapter 12), in The Infinity Doctors, BBC Books, →ISBN, page 209:Only now did he realise how few colours there had been at the end of the universe. The world had been sepia, drained of colour and light.

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* Aspie, aspie, paise

## Dutch
### Etymology

From Middle Dutch sepia, a direct borrowing from Latin sepia, and reinforced by French or Italian.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

sepia f or m (uncountable)
* cuttlefish

#### Synonyms

* (cuttlefish): zeekat

### Noun

sepia n (uncountable)
* the color sepia
* a style of yellowish/brownish-and-black photography

### Further reading

* van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “sepia”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

## Latin
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía), often suggested to be from Ancient Greek σήπειν (sḗpein, “to make rotten”), but (per Beekes) could instead be a Pre-Greek word.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈseː.pi.a/, [ˈs̠eːpiä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈse.pi.a/, [ˈsɛːpiä]

### Noun

sēpia f (genitive sēpiae); first declension
* a cuttlefish
* the secretion of a cuttlefish used as ink

#### Declension

First-declension noun.

#### Synonyms

* (cuttlefish): lōlīgō

#### Descendants

* Istriot:
** sipa ⇒ sipariola
*** → Serbo-Croatian: sipa, сипа
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: seppia
** Neapolitan: ceccia, seccia
** Sicilian: siccia
* Padanian:
** ⇒ Ligurian: sepieta
** Piedmontese: sepia
** Venetan: sepa
* Northern Gallo-Romance:
** French: seiche
* Occitano-Romance:
** Catalan: sípia, sépia ⇒ sepiera
** Old Occitan: sepia, sepcha
*** Occitan: sépia (all dialects)
    Gascon: sipa
    Vivaro-Alpine: supia
* Ibero-Romance:
** ⇒ Asturian: chipirón
*** → Spanish: chipirón
** >? Mozarabic:
*** → Asturian: xibiones (augmentative, plural)
*** → Old Galician-Portuguese:
**** Galician: xiba
**** Portuguese: siba
*** → Spanish: jibia
* Borrowings:
** → English: sepia
** → Hungarian: szépia
** → Polish: sepia
** → Portuguese: sépia
** → Romanian: sepia, sepie
** → Russian: сепия (sepija)
** → Spanish: sepia

### References

* “sepia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “sepia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "sepia", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* sepia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* “sepia”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
* “sepia”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “sēpia”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 11: S–Si, page 478
* Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “sēpia”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 589

## Polish
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sēpia, from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈsɛ.pja/
* Rhymes: -ɛpja
* Syllabification: se‧pia

### Noun

sepia f
* cephalopod ink
* sepia (color)
* (photography) sepia toning
* cuttlefish
    Synonym: mątwa

#### Derived terms

* sepiowy

### Further reading

* sepia in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Spanish
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sēpia. Doublet of jibia.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈsepja/ [ˈse.pja]
* Rhymes: -epja
* Syllabification: se‧pia

### Noun

sepia f (plural sepias)
* cuttlefish
    Synonyms: jibia, cachón, choco
* (photography) sepia

#### Derived terms

* sepia faraón

### Further reading

* “sepia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10