lassitudo

Forms

lassitūdō f (genitive lassitūdinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lassus (“tired”) + -tūdō.^[1][2][3] The adjective lassus goes back to Proto-Italic *lassos and Proto-Indo-European *lh₁d-tó- (“tired”), with a d-extension of the root Proto-Indo-European *leh₁- (“to let”).^[3] Cognate with Hesychius' Ancient Greek ληδεῖν (lēdeîn, “to be tired”), Albanian lodhem (“to be tired”) and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (lats, “slow”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] who has “weariness holds all my limbs”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is tiredness or fatigue of the body, as in Celsus' advice that exercise should end in weariness short of exhaustion;^[2][4] Cicero also uses it of mental fatigue.^[2][4] Church Latin glosses it “weariness, lassitude”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of weary limbs.^[4][3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of mental fatigue.^[2][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of tiredness after exercise.^[4][6]
• early 15th century – Borrowed into English as lassitude.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Tiredness, weariness, fatigue; mental fatigue.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• lassus
• English lassitude

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com