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lasso

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word lasso

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 55–19/18 BC, Tibullus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*leh₁-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin lassus
Latin lasso
Latin lassitudo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫas.soː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈlas.so][1]

Forms

lassō (present infinitive lassāre, perfect active lassāvī, supine lassātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb from Latin lassus (“tired”).[2][3][1] 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”).[4] Cognate with Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (lats, “slow”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Thesaurus calls it mainly a poetic word, found in a tragic fragment of uncertain date and then in Tibullus and later poets;[3] Lewis & Short think it perhaps not earlier than Augustus.[5] Tibullus has “when he has wearied the young man with stolen love”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to make tired or weary, also reflexively, as in Seneca's man who wore himself out day and night.[2] Ovid uses it of hard wars that wore out active men and of fields worn down by ploughing.[2] It is also to tire by satiety, as in Seneca, and to weaken or exhaust things, as Manilius' stars, and prayers, in the elder Seneca.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “make weary, tire, exhaust”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus of a weary young man.[2][3][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of wars and ploughed fields.[2][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of tiring oneself and of satiety.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To tire, weary, fatigue.[2][5][1]
  2. To wear out; to wear down with use.[2][1]
  3. To weary by satiety.[2]
  4. To weaken, exhaust.[2][1]

Word family

  • dēlassō
  • lassēscō
  • praelassātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Lasso.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/lasso. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·