letalis

Forms

lētālis (neuter lētāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] It is also spelt lēthālis.^[2] Etymonline explains this Late Latin spelling by association with Greek lēthē, “forgetfulness”.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin lētum (“death”) + -ālis,^[4][1][5] formed like vītālis and exitiālis.^[5] De Vaan derives lētum from Proto-Italic *lēto- and Proto-Indo-European *leh1-to-, perhaps a past participle “let go” used as a noun, “letting go” and so “death”, and compares Slavic words for “summer, year”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

According to the TLL it is found from Virgil and Ovid on, and its reading in Lucretius is doubtful;^[5] Köbler dates it from Lucretius.^[7] Virgil has haeret laterī lētālis harundō, “the deadly arrow clings to her side”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It means deadly, fatal or mortal, of wounds, weapons, poisons and diseases,^[4][2] and also of things connected with death, as Ovid's deadly cold.^[4] Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and late;^[2] the TLL finds it in prose only from Seneca and Pliny the Elder on.^[5] It has no comparative or superlative.^[5] Livy uses the neuter plural lētālia for means of death,^[2] and Statius the neuter as an adverb, “in a deadly way”.^[2] In Medieval Latin it could mean leading to the loss of the soul, of mourning, mortal or perishable, and cadaverous.^[8] English took lethal from the Late Latin spelling lethalis in the 1580s.^[3]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a deadly arrow.^[4][5][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has lētālia, means of death.^[2][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of deadly cold and a sword.^[4][2][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in prose.^[5][7]
• 1580s – English borrows it as lethal.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or connected with death.^[4]
2. Deadly, fatal, lethal, mortal.^[4][2][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Leading to the perdition of the soul; mortal, perishable.^[8]

Related words

• lētum
• lētifer
• English lethal

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill