Etymologically
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litus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈliː.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈliː.tus][1]

Forms

lītus n (genitive lītoris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *lei/ītos, of uncertain origin.[2][3][4] De Vaan suggests Proto-Indo-European *leit-os- (“going”), from the root of Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌽 (galeiþan, “to go”) and Tocharian B lita (“went away”), with a sense “going away”, then “end, side”, then “coast”.[2][1] He finds the link with *leiH- “to pour”, which Walde and Hofmann hesitantly accepted, senseless.[2] Köbler gives that root.[5] Isidore of Seville derived it from ēlīdere, since the waves strike it.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character asks what men are on the shore.[2][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant the seashore, coast or strand, and in poetry loosely a country bounded by a coast; it also meant a beach or landing place.[4] Lawyers defined it as far as the highest wave reaches.[7] Döderlein distinguishes rīpa, the bank of a river, from lītus and ōra, the shores of the sea.[8] The spelling littus is also found.[4][9]

In Medieval Latin it was used of the shore of a lake and the bank of a river or moat.[10] It survives in Italian lido, whence the name Lido.[1][5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of men on the shore.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero reports Aquilius' definition of the shore.[4][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a country by the sea.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The seashore, coast, strand.[4]
  2. (poetic) A country bounded by a coast.[4]
  3. A beach, landing place.[4]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The shore of a lake; the bank of a river.[10]

Word family

  • lītorālis
  • lītorārius
  • lītoreus
  • lītorōsus
  • English littoral
  • English lido

Usage notes

It is distinct from litus, the participle of linō “to smear”, and Medieval Latin also had litus “lite”, a member of a class between free men and serfs, a Germanic word.[4][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  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 j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill