Etymologically
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letum

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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

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