letum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɫeː.tũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlɛː.tum]^[1]

Forms

lētum n (genitive lētī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *lēto-, perhaps inherited from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁-to-, a participle “let go” used as a noun, “letting go”, then “death”.^[2][1] It would then be the same formation as Slavic *lěto “summer, year”, as in Russian лето (leto, “summer”), from “going”.^[2] Other proposals connect *ley- “to flow” or *lewH- “to loosen”.^[1] Varro and Festus derived it from Ancient Greek λήθη (lḗthē, “forgetting”), whence the spelling lēthum.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, whose soldier threatens to kill himself, cōnsciscam lētum.^[2][4][5] Ennius has many meeting death.^[5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC and Ennius 204–169 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was death, usually violent, and a manner of dying, as Cicero's “see what a shameful death we are dying”.^[5] In poetry it was death and destruction, as Lucretius' door of death not closed to the sky.^[5] Döderlein says mors is death as a physical fact and lētum death as fate, the more solemn and poetic word.^[6]

In Medieval Latin it was criminal jurisdiction over homicide, mortmain, and the death of the soul.^[7] The adjective lētālis, spelled lēthālis in Late Latin, gave English lethal in the 1580s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus' soldier threatens to kill himself.^[5][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius speaks of many meeting death.^[5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a shameful death.^[5][4]
• 1580s – English lethal is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Death (usually violent).^[5]
2. A manner of dying.^[5]
3. (poetic) Death and destruction, ruin.^[5]

Word family

• lētālis
• lētifer
• lētificus
• lētō

Related words

• lassus
• lēnis
• mors
• nex
• English lethal

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes mors (death, the ordinary physical word), lētum (death as a destiny, poetic) and nex (violent death, murder).^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com