illuceo

Forms

illūceō (present infinitive illūcēre); second conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1] It is also spelled inlūceō; perfect forms are treated under illūcēscō.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“in, on”) + lūceō (“to shine”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan lists ⟨lūcēre⟩ among the derivatives of lūx (“light”), and traces the verb to Proto-Italic *l(o)ukē- (“to be light”) and Proto-Indo-European *luk-eh₁- (“to be light”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“light”).^[5]

Cognate with Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “clear, white”) and Sanskrit रोचते (rócate, “to shine”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is Plautus' Captivi: pix atra tuo capiti illuceat, “may black pitch blaze on your head”.^[3][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it very rare.^[6] It is to shine in or on something, with a dative:^[2][3] Apuleius uses it of the sheen of hair,^[3][8] Tertullian figuratively of the light of God's grace,^[3] and Ambrose of a house lit up by the true sun.^[6][3] Firmicus Maternus uses it for becoming clear.^[7]

The Old Latin Bible uses it transitively, “may the Lord make his face shine upon you”, where the Vulgate has ostendat.^[3][8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of burning pitch.^[3][9]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of shining hair.^[3][9]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of the light of grace.^[3][9]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of a house lit by the true sun.^[6][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shine in or on, give light to.^[2][6]
2. (figurative) To become clear.^[7]
3. (transitive, Late Latin) To make shine, illuminate.^[3][8]

Related words

• lūceō
• lūx

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de