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laetor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word laetor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Forms

laetor (present infinitive laetārī, perfect active laetātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] Inscriptions also spell it lētor.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from laetus (“glad, joyful”), as the deponent beside laetō (“to gladden”).[2][3][4] The adjective has no accepted etymology: de Vaan finds Walde–Hofmann's and Pokorny's link with lāridum (“bacon”) and largus (“generous”), through an older sense “fat, rich”, very artificial.[5] Varro derived the verb from a joy spread more widely (⟨lātius⟩).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, prologue to the Rudens: post factum ut laetēminī, “so that you may rejoice afterwards”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Laetor is to rejoice, be glad, with an ablative of the cause (Terence: it is not in our interest that a lover should rejoice at the wedding), an accusative and infinitive (Terence: I'm glad it turned out as you wished), in or dē with the ablative (Cicero), or a neuter pronoun.[3][4] The gerundive is “to be rejoiced at”.[3] With an ablative it also means to delight in (Cicero to his son: if you delight in such precepts), and Columella uses it of plants that flourish on a certain food.[3]

Döderlein contrasts gaudēre, joy as an inward state of mind, with laetārī, the outward expression of joy.[6] Church Latin glosses it “rejoice, be glad, be joyful, take delight in”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: post factum ut laetēminī.[3][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence with an ablative and with an accusative and infinitive.[3][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of delighting in precepts.[3][8]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of flourishing plants.[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To rejoice, be glad, be delighted (at).[3][1][7]
  2. To delight (in), be fond (of).[3][7]
  3. (of plants) To flourish (on); (of land) to luxuriate.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Laetor.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/laetor. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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