Etymologically
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lens

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɫẽːs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlɛns][1]

Forms

lēns f (genitive lentis); third declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown, probably a borrowing from an unidentified language.[1][2] Similar words for the lentil exist in Old High German linsa, Lithuanian lęšis and Proto-Slavic *lęťa, too close to be chance but too different for a common ancestor.[1][3] The OLD compares Ancient Greek λάθυρος (láthuros, “vetch”).[4] The accusative is ⟨lentim⟩ in Cato, and Titinius treats it as masculine.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Cato, of the lentil plant.[4] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant the lentil plant, as in Cato and Virgil, and in Pliny the Elder its seed, the lentil, which Pliny says loves thin soil.[4][5][6] In Vegetius it meant duckweed.[6]

It survives in Romanian linte and was borrowed into Italian and Spanish lente.[1] Its derivative lenticula gave the word lentil, and English lens was named from it in the 1690s for the double-convex shape of the glass.[7]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the lentil plant.[4][2]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the lentil.[6][2]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the seed.[4][2]
  • 1690s – English lens is named from it.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The lentil plant.[4]
  2. A lentil (the seed).[4]
  3. Duckweed.[6]

Word family

  • lenticula
  • lentīgō
  • nīdor
  • English lens
  • English lentil

Usage notes

A different noun lēns, lendis means a nit, a louse's egg, as in Pliny the Elder.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com