Etymologically
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latus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word latus

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Confidence
Unknown
First attested
Plautus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin latus
Latin latitudo
English latitude

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɫa.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlaː.tus][1]

Forms

latus n (genitive lateris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is an old s-stem from a root *lat-, with no good etymology.[2][3] De Vaan finds a link with Old Irish sliss (“side”) and Welsh ystlys (“side”) attractive.[2] Wiktionary mentions Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”) or Proto-Indo-European *stelh₃- (“broad”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it: “I'll make your sides leather”, that is, I'll flay you.[4][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was the side or flank of a person or animal, as Cicero's dolor lateris “pain in the side”, and the lungs as the seat of the voice.[6][4] It was the side of anything, of a camp, an army's flank or a triangle, and ab latere someone was one of a person's close circle, as Livy's tyrant's entourage.[4][6] Döderlein places it between the hip and the shoulder.[7]

In medieval Latin ā latere was used of a ruler's envoy.[8] Its adjective laterālis gave English lateral.[3] It survives as Italian lato, French lez, Spanish lado and Romanian lat.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][5]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses laterālis.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a pain in the side.[6][5]
  • early 15th century – English lateral is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The side, flank (of the body).[4][6]
  2. The lungs (as the seat of the voice).[4]
  3. The side of anything.[4][6]
  4. Ab latere, from someone's close circle.[6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Ā latere, sent by a ruler.[8]

Word family

  • laterālis
  • laterārius
  • laterensis
  • later
  • English lateral

Usage notes

Unrelated are the adjective lātus “broad”, perhaps from *stlātos, and lātus, the perfect participle of ferō.[2][9][1] Isidore derived it from lateō “to lie hidden”.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Latus.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/latus. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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