lacio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɫa.ki.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlaː.t͡ʃi.o]^[1]

Forms

laciō (present infinitive lacere, perfect active licuī, supine lactum); third (-iō variant) conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *lak-i- (“to draw, pull”).^[2][1] Walde and Hofmann connected it with the root of laqueus “noose”, but de Vaan objects that *kʷi would rather give ⟨qui⟩, so a stem *lak- must be assumed, perhaps related to lacer “torn” if the verb first meant “to draw, attract”.^[2] Possible Italic cognates are [[xve|lag[sto]|t=offered?]] and Oscan kellaked if this is a reduplicated perfect.^[2] Prósper derives it from the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”), through “something offered to sight, decoy, deceit”.^[1] Festus derived it from lax (“deceit”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The simple verb is known only from Paulus' epitome of Festus, which glosses lacit as “leads into deceit”, and de Vaan thinks it likely a nonce form.^[2][4][5] Its compounds are old: allicere, ēlicere, illicere and prōlicere are found from Plautus, pellicere from the Twelve Tables.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant to entice, lure, inveigle, to draw into a trap.^[5][6] Festus said that from it came alliciō and lacessō, and the frequentatives lactō, dēlectō and oblectō.^[4] In the compounds -lac- may simply have meant “to draw”, and de Vaan suggests that technical words such as colliciae “gutters” and sublica “stake” also belong here rather than to liqueō.^[2]

Through dēlectō and ēliciō it is the source of English delight and English elicit.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses allicere, illicere and lactāre.^[2][8]
• 2nd century AD – Festus explains lacit.^[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To entice, lure, inveigle.^[5][6]

Word family

• alliciō
• dēliciō
• ēliciō
• illiciō
• lacessō
• lactō
• pelliciō
• prōliciō

Related words

• dēlicus
• laqueus
• liqueō
• lacer

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de