loto

loto¹ lotus

Pronunciation

• /ˈlɔ.to/^[1]

Forms

loto m (plural loti)^[1] Old forms include lòtos and lòtto, and the word was sometimes feminine.^[2]

Etymology

The word for the lotus is learned: it is borrowed from Latin lōtus (“lotus”), a name given to several plants.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek λωτός (lōtós).^[3][4][6][1] DELI and GRADIT call the Greek word Mediterranean and obscure, Nocentini a word of the Mediterranean substrate, and Zingarelli of uncertain origin.^[3][5][4][7] Nocentini gives the cognates French lotus and Spanish loto.^[4]

The botanical names came in separately, each from Greek or Latin: DEI dates the name of the bagolaro to 1625 and refers it to Theophrastus, the jujube lotus to the Odyssey, and bird's-foot trefoil to Pliny.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Simintendi, before 1333.^[9] DELI's first is the Ricettario fiorentino of 1499, where the word is feminine: Seme di loto amara (“seed of bitter lotus”).^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

DELI defines the early sense as the plant whose fruit, in the legend, brought forgetfulness;^[3] Mattioli used the word as a masculine in 1563.^[3] The derivative lotofago, “lotus-eater”, from Ancient Greek λωτοφάγος (lōtophágos), is first recorded before 1597 in G. Soderini: Sono ancora genti lotofaghe dette, perché mangiano il frutto del loto (“There are also peoples called lotus-eaters, because they eat the fruit of the lotus”).^[3][4]

Linnaeus gave the name to a genus of leguminous plants.^[11] The loto d'Egitto is in Mattioli in the 16th century, and the persimmon was called loto del Giappone in the 20th.^[8] Nocentini notes that the word now names chiefly the hackberry and the persimmon.^[4] The sacred lotus of India is a frequent symbol of perfection, beauty and fertility in Hindu and Buddhist religious art.^[12]

Timeline

• Before 1333 – First record, in Simintendi.^[9]
• 1499 – The Ricettario fiorentino uses loto as a feminine.^[3]
• 1563 – Mattioli uses it as a masculine.^[3]
• Before 1597 – Lotofago appears in G. Soderini.^[3]
• 1625 – Loto names the hackberry, in Anguillara.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) lotus: a name for several plants, especially water plants of the water-lily family such as the sacred lotus of India.^{[5][13][14][1]}
2. (botany) A plant of the genus Lotus of the legume family, such as bird's-foot trefoil (ginestrina); with a capital, the genus itself.^[5][15][12]
3. (mythology) The legendary plant whose fruit made those who ate it forget.^[15][7][16]
4. In Eastern religious symbolism, an emblem of perfection, beauty and fertility.^[14]

Word family

• lotofago

loto² mud

Pronunciation

• /ˈlo.to/^[1]

Forms

loto m (plural loti)^[1] Old Italian also has luto and lutto.^[9] DEI notes a southern feminine luta, from the Latin neuter plural.^[8]

Etymology

The word for mud is inherited from Latin lutum (“mud, clay”).^[3][4][5][1] The Latin word survives across the Romance languages: Occitan lot, Catalan llot, Spanish lodo, Portuguese lodo, Sardinian ludu and Romanian lut.^[4][17][18] DELI cites a dialect feminine ⟨lota⟩ in the 15th-century statutes of Fondi.^[3] Prati thought that the Latin word alone cannot explain Venetian lòta “clod” and the same Milanese form.^[19]

De Vaan derives the Latin word from Proto-Indo-European *l(H)u-to- (“dirt”) and compares Old Irish loth (“dirt”) and Ancient Greek λύθρον (lúthron, “gore, clotted blood”).^[20][4] Wiktionary connects it with Latin luō (“to wash”), and the OLD with polluō (“to defile”).^[1][6] luto is a doublet of the word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the 13th-century Glosse cassinesi, where loto translates Latin cenum (“mud”).^[3] The TLIO's first records are Bono Giamboni's Della miseria dell'uomo (before 1292) and Guittone's letters (before 1294), for mud, earth and water mixed.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for mud, for a muddy pool or marsh, for filth and for a muddy paste used to seal or cement.^[9] Fra Giordano defined it as acqua e terra mescolata (“water and earth mixed”),^[21] and a Tuscan bestiary of about 1300 has uno grande loto overo acqua (“a great mire, or water”).^[3] Dante uses it for the Stygian marsh: Più non ci avrai che sol passando il loto (“You shall have us no longer than while crossing the mire”).^[13][15]

DEI finds the word in Tuscan place names from the 10th century.^[8] It is now obsolete or literary.^[5][13] In crafts it was the same as luto, a clay paste for stopping cracks and holes, and in lost-wax casting a mix of brick dust, plaster and clay.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 13th century – The Glosse cassinesi gloss Latin cenum with loto.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the word.^[9]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses it.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for the Stygian marsh.^[3][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic, literary) mud, mire.^{[5][13][15][1]}
2. (archaic, literary) Muddy ground; a marsh.^[5][13][15]
3. (crafts) The same as luto, a clay paste for sealing joints.^[5][13][16]
4. In lost-wax casting, a mixture of brick dust, plaster, clay and other materials.^[5][16]