illecebra

Forms

illecebra f (genitive illecebrae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled inlecebra.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin illiciō (“to allure, entice”) + -bra.^[2][1] illiciō is a compound of in- and the verb that de Vaan reconstructs as Proto-Italic *lak-i- (“to draw, pull”); the simple laciō is found only in Paulus' epitome of Festus and may be a nonce form.^[4] He rejects Walde and Hofmann's link with laqueus (“noose”), since a stem *lakʷ- would have given -lequebra.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the saying that neatness is an enticement to the hearts of lovers.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is any means of attraction, an allurement or lure, in a good or a bad sense; with a genitive an incitement, as Plautus' incitement to lust.^[2][3] Plautus also applies it to a person, a lure in human form.^[2] Lewis & Short call it a favourite word of Cicero.^[3] Apuleius uses it of enticement by magic.^[2] Pliny the Elder gives it as the Italian name of a kind of stonecrop.^[2] Church Latin glosses it allurement, charm, inducement.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of enticements and of a person as a lure.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it often.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a plant.^[2][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of magic spells.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An allurement, enticement, lure, charm; an incitement.^[2][3][6][1]
2. A person who entices, a lure.^[2]
3. Enticement by magic.^[2]
4. A kind of stonecrop.^[2]

Word family

• illecebro
• illecebrōsus

Related words

• illiciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson