lectica

Forms

lectīca f (genitive lectīcae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from lectus (“bed, couch”) with the suffix -īca.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives ⟨lectus⟩ from Proto-Italic *lekto- (“bed”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”), cognate with Ancient Greek λέχος (lékhos, “bed”) and Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ligan, “to lie”).^[4][5] Varro derived it from legō (“to gather”), because people gathered straw to make a bed.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first examples are a speech of Gaius Gracchus, quoted by Gellius, about a young man carried in a litter, and Cicero.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a litter, a couch carried by bearers, used at first on journeys and later also in the city for comfort: Cicero describes Verres carried in a litter with eight bearers.^[6][2] Wiktionary notes the bedding, curtains and legs of the classical litter, and its use as a stretcher for the sick or injured.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “litter”.^[7] In medieval sources it is a bier, a couch or bed, a coffin, and a portable reliquary.^[8] The word passed into Greek and survives in Italian lettiga.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 165 AD – Gellius quotes a speech of Gaius Gracchus about a young man in a litter.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of Verres' eight-bearer litter.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A litter, a couch carried by bearers.^[2][6][1][7]
2. A stretcher.^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A bier; a couch, bed; a coffin; a portable reliquary.^[8]

Word family

• lectīcārius
• lectīcula

Related words

• lectus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill