Etymologically
Log in

lautitia

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word lautitia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (lautus,-itia)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin lautus
Latin lautitia

Forms

lautitia f (genitive lautitiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lautus (“elegant, sumptuous”) + -itia.[2][1][3] Köbler connects lautus with lavō (“to wash”),[4] and Festus already derived the noun from washing.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,[4][3] writing to a friend that he will hear the rumour of his new luxury.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a sumptuous way of life, especially in house and table.[2][6] Pliny the Elder calls a three-dish dinner the height of luxury in dining, and says columns were not used in temples for show;[6][5] Seneca speaks of luxury that turns to dinners.[6] The plural is luxurious fittings or dishes: Petronius' guests admire the luxuries, and Suetonius calls Caesar very fond of elegance and luxury.[2][6] Festus glosses it as the splendour of feasts, and also names a flour of wheat sprinkled with water lautitia.[5] The TLL notes that manuscripts confuse it with laetitia.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of his new luxurious life.[5][6][4]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius, of luxuries at a dinner.[2][6][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of luxurious dining.[6][4]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of Caesar's taste for luxury.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Elegance of living, sumptuousness, luxury, splendour.[2][5][1]
  2. (plural) Luxurious fittings; dainty dishes.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
Cite this entry

“Lautitia.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/lautitia. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·