lepista

• lepasta
• lepesta

Varro claims the term derives from Ancient Greek δεπέσταν (depéstan), although this term is unattested outside of Varro. It is more likely that it derives from the similar form λεπαστή (lepastḗ). It is possible that the term proposed by Varro is connected to δέπαστρον (dépastron), from δέπας (dépas). Varro also implies that the term may have been borrowed from Sabine, although he may also suggest that the Latin and Sabine term both derive from the same source.

lepista f (genitive lepistae); first declension

1. A goblet
   • c. 280 CE, Nonius Marcellus, De compendiosa doctrina II 220:

     lepistae etiamnunc Sabinorum fanis pauperioribus plerisque aut fictiles sunt aut aeneae.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 270 BCE – c. 201 BCE, Gnaeus Naevius, Bellum Punicum:

     Ferunt pulchras creterras, aureas lepistas.

     They carry beautiful mixing-bowls, golden lepistae

According to Varro, the term applied to a specific type of goblet used in Sabine religious rituals. He states that it was placed on the table of the gods on festival days. Nonius, citing Varro, claims that the goblets continued to be used during his time by poorer Sabine temples. He further states that they were typically made from clay or bronze. However, fragments of the Bellum Punicum of Naevius claim that they were golden.

First-declension noun.

• “lepista”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lepista”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Annie Cecilia Burman (24 March 2018), De Lingua Sabina: A Reappraisal of the Sabine Glosses‎^[1], →DOI, page 51