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lactatio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word lactatio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
Ultimate origin
Latin lac
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin lactātiō
English lactation

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫakˈtaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [lakˈtat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

lactātiō f (genitive lactātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is the noun of action from Latin lactō1 (“to suckle”) + -tiō.[2][1] The verb is formed from lac (“milk”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is in the Latin translation of Irenaeus, where Christ gives himself as milk to believers, so that, nourished by such suckling, they may learn to eat and drink the word of God.[2] Conte cites Julian of Eclanum for the sense of suckling.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the Christian writers' suckling and nourishment,[2][4] Medieval Latin kept it as the act of giving suck,[5][6] and British sources also used it for the milking of dairy animals.[6] The English word lactation was borrowed from it through French in the 1660s, first for suckling an infant and by 1857 for the secretion of milk.[3]

Timeline

  • 1268 – An English account records a payment for milking ewes, pro lactatione ovium.[6]
  • 1660s – English lactation is borrowed through French for suckling an infant.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) Suckling, nursing; figuratively, nourishment.[2][4][5]
  2. (Medieval Latin) The milking of dairy animals.[6]

Usage notes

The TLL has a second lactātiō, from lactō “to entice”, meaning enticement: Symmachus, writing to his father, says he takes no pleasure in false flattery (falsa lactatio).[2] Georges and Köbler assign the passage in Irenaeus to this word instead.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d 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
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Lactatio.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/lactatio. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·