laqueo

laqueo¹ ensnare

Etymology tree of laqueo¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin laqueus

Latin laqueo

From the same root · laqueo¹

English lasso ← laqueus

Forms

laqueō (present infinitive laqueāre, perfect active laqueāvī, supine laqueātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The verb “to ensnare” is from Latin laqueus (“noose, snare”) + -ō.^[2][3][1] De Vaan finds no convincing etymology for laqueus itself and rejects the old derivation from laciō (“to entice”), which fits neither the sounds nor the meaning.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Grattius, Manilius and Columella on.^[3] Manilius speaks of those who extentis laqueare profundum retibus, “ensnare the deep with outspread nets”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

In Columella it describes an animal's body bound fast with ropes,^[5][3] and in Solinus serpents that entangle the legs of elephants.^[3] Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of entangling the limbs of resisting enemies,^[5][3] and Lactantius Placidus, commenting on Statius, says that Erigone hanged herself in her grief.^[6] The figurative sense “to ensnare” appears in Juvencus, of an error of the right eye.^[5][7]

Medieval charters of Hungary use it of catching animals in nets and, figuratively, of people bound by sentences of excommunication.^[8] The TLL lists Romance descendants such as Old Italian lacciare, Italian allacciare, Old French lacier and Portuguese laçar.^[3]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Manilius uses it of ensnaring the sea with nets;^[5][3][9] Columella of binding an animal with ropes.^[5][3][9]
• 1st half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses the participle of the entangled legs of elephants.^[3][9]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of entangling the limbs of resisting enemies.^[5][3][9]
• 1428 – A Hungarian charter uses it of animals caught in nets.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To enclose in a noose, ensnare, trap.^[2][5]
2. To bind or tie with cords; to plait (a net).^[5][3]
3. (reflexive) To hang oneself.^[6]
4. (figurative) To entangle, catch out.^[5][7]

Word family

• ablaqueō
• circumlaqueo
• ēlaqueō
• illaqueō
• sublaqueō
• oblaqueō
• laqueātor

laqueo² panel a ceiling

Etymology tree of laqueo²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin laquear

Latin laqueo

Forms

laqueō (present infinitive laqueāre, perfect active laqueāvī, supine laqueātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The verb “to panel a ceiling” is from Latin laquear (“panelled ceiling”) + -ō, according to Wiktionary,^[1] and Lewis & Short also derive it from that noun.^[5] The OLD instead takes it as a back-formation from the participle laqueātus (“panelled”),^[2] the form in which nearly all its uses occur.^[5][6] De Vaan lists laqueātus, attested from Ennius on, among the derivatives of laqueus (“noose”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest instance is a line of Ennius quoted by Cicero, tectis caelatis laqueatis, “under carved and panelled roofs”;^[5][6] Servius quotes the line with lacuatis.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Classical writers use the participle of panelled or coffered ceilings and buildings: Cicero of a temple and of houses, Horace of roofs, Livy of the Capitoline temple of Jupiter, and Suetonius of Nero's dining rooms.^[5][6] Ovid applies it to caves vaulted with tufa and pumice,^[6] and Manilius uses the present participle of stars that adorn the sky like the panels of a ceiling.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius has laqueata of panelled roofs, in a line quoted by Cicero.^[5][6][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses laqueata tecta.^[5][9]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of roofs.^[5][9]
• 1st century AD – Manilius uses the present participle of the starry sky.^[6][7][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To adorn with a panelled or coffered ceiling; mostly in the participle laqueātus.^[2][5][6]
2. (figurative) To adorn as if with a panelled ceiling.^[6][7]