cepa

See also: сера and čepa

Galician

A birch tree growing from the cepa of a chestnut tree, A Cervela, Galicia

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese cepa, from Latin cippus (“post”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθepa̝/, (western) /ˈsepa̝/

Noun

cepa m (plural cepas)

1. stump; also the trunk of a living tree that has suffered many prunings

   Synonyms: carocha, coto, cozo, toco

2. charcoal
3. post, column

   Synonyms: pé, poste

4. trunk of a vine and the vine itself

   Synonym: bacelo

Derived terms

• cepada
• cepeira

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “cepa”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “cepa”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cepa”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “cepa”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cepa”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Etymology 2

Verb

cepa

1. inflection of cepar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Etymology 1

A borrowing from an unknown, possibly Anatolian source, cf. Hesychian Ancient Greek κάπια (kápia, “onions”) claimed for Ceryneia and the complex of Arabic قُبَّعَة (qubbaʕa, “bulbous hat”). Given the borrowing of Proto-Slavic *lukъ (“onion”), it is probable that the Italians at the date of their expansion also only knew ramsons, as a kind of ālium. At least it is known that spring onion was only introduced in the modern period from China, while the bulb onion is also Asiatic, such that ancient Africa knew the cultivated onion only in the north, by generic names like Egyptian ḥḏw, it having expanded beyond the Great Desert only by the Arabs under their name بَصَل (baṣal).

Alternative forms

• caepa, cēpum, caepum, cēpe, caepe

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkeː.pa/, [ˈkeːpä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃe.pa/, [ˈt͡ʃɛːpä]

Noun

cēpa f (genitive cēpae); first declension

1. onion

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cēpa	cēpae
Genitive	cēpae	cēpārum
Dative	cēpae	cēpīs
Accusative	cēpam	cēpās
Ablative	cēpā	cēpīs
Vocative	cēpa	cēpae

Coordinate terms

• ūniō

Derived terms

• caepārius
• cēpōsus
• cēpulla

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: tseapã
  • Romanian: ceapă
  • → Albanian: qepë
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: ceba
  • Occitan: ceba
  • Old French: cive (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • →⇒ English: cepaceous
  • → Old English: ciepe

References

• “cepa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cepa”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cepa in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 108

Etymology 2

Noun

cēpa f (genitive cēpae); first declension

1. Medieval Latin form of sēbum (“grease”)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cēpa	cēpae
Genitive	cēpae	cēpārum
Dative	cēpae	cēpīs
Accusative	cēpam	cēpās
Ablative	cēpā	cēpīs
Vocative	cēpa	cēpae

Latvian

Verb

cepa

1. third-person singular/plural past indicative of cept

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡sɛ.pa/
• Rhymes: -ɛpa
• Syllabification: ce‧pa

Noun

cepa m inan

1. genitive singular of cep

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈse.pɐ/

• Hyphenation: ce‧pa

Noun

cepa f (plural cepas)

1. (microbiology) strain (variant of a virus)
2. kind (a type, race or category)

   Synonyms: tipo, classe, laia, feitio

3. vine (climbing plant that produces grapes)

   Synonyms: vinha, vide, videira

4. stump (remains of a plant that has been cut off), especially one used to make charcoal

Rukai

Noun

cepa

1. adulteress; wanton woman

Spanish

Etymology

From cepo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ˈθepa/ [ˈθe.pa]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /ˈsepa/ [ˈse.pa]
• Rhymes: -epa
• Syllabification: ce‧pa

Noun

cepa f (plural cepas)

1. (wine) variety
2. (microbiology, virology) strain

   cepa de hongos ― strain of fungi

   cepa de bacteria ― strain of bacteria

   • 2020 December 21, Ferran Bono, Guillermo Vega, Rafa Burgos, ““En Londres la gente pasa de llevar mascarilla en la calle y no parece muy preocupada por la nueva cepa””, in El País‎^[1]:

     En eso y en que tampoco parecen de momento muy alarmados los ciudadanos de una de las capitales financieras del mundo por la aparición en su país de una nueva cepa del coronavirus, con mayor poder de contagio.

     Besides this, the citizens of one of the world's largest financial capitals don't seem very concerned with the appearance of a new strain of the coronavirus in their country, one with greater contagious power.

3. rootstalk, rhizome (underground stem base)
4. grapevine stock, grapevine
5. root (of an animal's tail or horns, etc.)
6. ancestry, stock, origin (of family lineage)

   Synonym: linaje

   de buena cepa ― of good stock

7. (architecture) pier (of an arch or bridge)
8. nucleus (of cloud formation)

   Synonym: núcleo

Derived terms

• cepa virgen
• de buena cepa
• de pura cepa

 

Further reading

• “cepa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16