nepeta

nepeta

See also: Nepeta and népéta

English

Etymology

From Nepeta (“nepeta”).

Noun

nepeta (plural nepetas)

1. (botany) Any plant of the genus Nepeta of flowering plants, including catnip.
   • 1997 October 13, New York: Interior Design ′97, page 79,

     NICE DIGS: Tomato tepees, nepeta, strawberries, and herbs in raised beds billow onto the gravel walk; a neat lattice camouflages a propane tank.

   • 2006 Spring, Early Homes, page 42,

     The property is now protected by deer fencing, but Nancy spent many years experimenting with plants that are deer resistant, such as lavender, nepeta (catmint), and peonies.

   • 2007 May-June, Old House Interiors, page 103,

     TOP. Mirror-image borders in Hampshire, with purple nepeta, carmine-red geraniums, and yellow thalictrum.

Translations

plant of the genus Nepeta

Finnish: kissanminttu (fi)

Anagrams

• Penate

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Latin

Etymology

Unknown, but related to Ancient Greek νέπιτα (népita), νέπετος (népetos) of the same meaning. Possibly from the name of the city of Nepi in Italy, called Nepete in Roman times,[1] from Etruscan 𐌍𐌄𐌐𐌄𐌕𐌄 (nepete); but the derivation is unusual. More likely from Ancient Greek *νεπετα (*nepeta), an unattested variant of the aforementioned terms, ultimately of Pre-Greek origin.[2][3]

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈne.pe.ta/, [ˈnɛpɛt̪ä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈne.pe.ta/, [ˈnɛːpet̪ä]

Noun

nepeta f (genitive nepetae); first declension

1. catnip

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nepeta	nepetae
Genitive	nepetae	nepetārum
Dative	nepetae	nepetīs
Accusative	nepetam	nepetās
Ablative	nepetā	nepetīs
Vocative	nepeta	nepetae

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: nepita
  • Neapolitan: anepeta
  • ⇒ Tuscan: nepitella, nepitilla
    • → English: nepitella
  • Sicilian:

    Calabrese: nepeta

• Gallo-Italic:
  • Piedmontese: anèta
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: nepta
  • Old Occitan: nepta
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: nébeda
  • Old Portuguese: neveda
    • Galician: nébeda, néboda
    • Portuguese: nêveda
    • → Spanish: nébeda, nébida
  • Old Spanish: nieta, nebda, neuta, neota
• Borrowings:
  • → French: népète, népéta
  • → Old English: nepte
    • Middle English: nep
      • ⇒ English: catnip

References

1. Missouri Botanical Garden: Nepeta × faassenii
2. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “νέπετος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1010
3. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Stefan Norbruis, editor, Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 34: “49 -ετ-ο-”

Further reading

• “nepeta”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• nepeta in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette