labes

Forms

lābēs f (genitive lābis); third declension^[1] Lucretius has an ablative lābī.^[2]

Etymology

It is related to lābor “to slip, fall” and labō “to totter”.^[2][1][3] Köbler compares a root ⟨*lēb-⟩ “to hang limp” (Pokorny 655).^[4] For the sense “stain”, Lewis & Short compared Ancient Greek λώβη (lṓbē, “outrage”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Ennius, of a disaster, and Köbler lists the Salian hymn.^[2][4] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a fall or subsidence of earth, a landslip, as in Cicero, so lābem dare “to collapse”; a disaster, debacle, as in Ennius; a physical defect, as in Lucretius; a blemish in an animal's colouring that unfits it for sacrifice, as in Ovid; and in Cicero a stain on honour, disgrace.^[2][3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means stain, blot, blemish, defect.^[6] British Medieval Latin used it for subsidence, collapse, ruin.^[7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of disaster.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a defect.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a landslip and of disgrace.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fall, subsidence, landslip.^[2][5]
2. A disaster.^[2]
3. A defect, blemish.^[2]
4. A stain on honour, disgrace.^[2][6]

Word family

• lābēcula
• labōsus
• labīna

Related words

• lābor
• labō
• lāpsus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press