crepida

English

Detail of the Apollo Belvedere showing the right crepida, a Roman rather than Greek design

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin crepida, from Ancient Greek κρηπίς (krēpís). Doublet of crepis.

Noun

crepida (plural crepidae)

1. (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome) A type of footwear consisting of a sole attached to the foot with fairly elaborate straps, distinguished by the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans from sandals proper but now usually considered a style of sandal.
   • 1854, “Ancient London.—No. IX.”, in The Home Friend; A Weekly Miscellany of Amusement and Instruction, volume IV, number 91, London: […] Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge […], pages 300–301:

     There was likewise found an abundant variety of shoes; the heavy caliga, or sandal, worn by the Roman soldiers, studded under the sole with large-headed nails, the calceus or buskin (3) and the more delicate crepida (4), or slipper looped in the leather on each side of the instep, in like manner with the buskin.

   • 1866 July 20, “The Annual Congress of the Archæological Institute”, in The Building News and Engineering Journal: […], volume XIII, London: […] Proprietor of the “Building News,” [John Passmore Edwards] […], page 484, column 3:

     The museum, though small, contains some very interesting objects classified in groups. In one case are Roman and other shoes, sandals, and crepidæ; […]

   • 1948, R[uth] Turner Wilcox, “Roman Footwear”, in The Mode in Footwear, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons; London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, Ltd, page 31:

     The sole of the crepida was usually thick and leather covered the sides and heel of the foot. The crepida, considered the shoe for traveler, young man and warrior, varied in style for civilian and soldier.

   • 1984, Romanian Review, volume 38, page 74:

     What restlessness could have made the goddess trample the earth so fast under the crepidae twisted up on her legs like the sandals of our Romanian frontier guards.

   • 1994 December, Norma Goldman, “Roman Footwear”, in Judith Lynn Sebesta, Larissa Bonfante, editors, The World of Roman Costume (Wisconsin Studies in Classics), Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, published 2001, →ISBN, part I (Roman Garments, Hairstyles, Accessories), page 114, column 1:

     Crepidae often covered the foot up to or including the ankle, and they sometimes covered the toes, not a regular feature of the sandal. An excellent example of crepidae with high layered, multicolored soles is depicted in the room of the initiation in the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii, as worn by Ariadne.

   • 2019, Alex Gough, Emperor’s Knife (The Imperial Assassin; 2)‎^[1], London: Canelo, published 2022, →ISBN:

     He had even been known to go out and about dressed in ancient Macedonian style to mimic his hero – the flat kausia hat and the crepidae shoes.

Translations

footwear

• French: crépide (fr) f
• Latin: crepida f

Further reading

• crepida on Wikidata.Wikidata
• Category:Crepidas on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κρηπίς (krēpís).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkre.pi.da/, [ˈkrɛpɪd̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkre.pi.da/, [ˈkrɛːpid̪ä]

Noun

crepida f (genitive crepidae); first declension

1. crepida, a particular style of Greek sandal
2. (inexact) Synonym of solea: sandal, sole

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	crepida	crepidae
genitive	crepidae	crepidārum
dative	crepidae	crepidīs
accusative	crepidam	crepidās
ablative	crepidā	crepidīs
vocative	crepida	crepidae

Derived terms

• crepidārius
• crepidātus
• crepidula

 

Descendants

• → English: crepida
• → French: crépide

References

• “crepida”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “crepida”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• crepida 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)
• crepida in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “crepida”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “crepida”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin