Etymologically
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latibulum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫaˈtɪ.bʊ.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [laˈtiː.bu.lum][1]

Forms

latibulum n (genitive latibulī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lateō (“to lie hidden”) + -bulum,[2][1][3] beside latebra from the same verb.[1] De Vaan explains lateō as a stative verb made from an adjective ⟨*latos⟩ “hidden”, going back to Proto-Italic *latē- and Proto-Indo-European *lh₂-to- (“hidden”), and compares Ancient Greek λανθάνω (lanthánō, “to be hidden”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL record it first in Cicero,[5][3] who uses it of hiding places of men and of the lairs of animals: cum etiam ferae latibulīs sē tegant, “since even wild beasts hide in their lairs”.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a hiding place, and especially the lair or hole of a wild creature:[2][6] Cicero tells an opponent that he came out tamquam serpēns ē latibulīs, “like a snake from its holes”,[2][3] and Catullus writes of the dens of wild beasts.[6][3] Phaedrus, Curtius and Seneca use it too.[2] Apuleius extended it to a means of concealment.[2] Döderlein distinguishes it from latebra, a retired place where one can stay hidden: a latibulum is a hole into which one creeps like an animal.[7] In Christian Latin Ambrose repeats a passage of Cicero on animals that provide themselves with lairs,[3] and Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the senses “covert, hiding place”.[8] A medieval writer in Britain says that Elijah, fearing threats, went to the hiding places of the desert.[9]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of hiding places and lairs.[2][5][3]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of the dens of beasts.[6][3]
  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it.[2]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a means of concealment.[2]
  • Late Latin – Ambrose repeats Cicero's phrase.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hiding place, refuge.[2][6][8]
  2. A lair, den or hole of a wild animal.[2][6]
  3. (transferred) A means of concealment.[2]

Word family

  • latibulō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ 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