lucerna

Forms

lucerna f (genitive lucernae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the root of lūceō (“to shine”) and lūx (“light”), with the ending of lanterna (“lantern”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan notes that its short ⟨u⟩ is unexplained; the TLL agrees that neither the short vowel nor the suffix is easily explained, and takes the long vowel of the Romance forms as a new formation after ⟨lūceō⟩.^[3][4] The suffix, also in ⟨lanterna⟩, is of disputed origin and resembles Etruscan suffixes.^[1] The root goes back to Proto-Italic *louk- and Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“light”), cognate with Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “bright, white”) and Sanskrit रोचते (rócate, “to shine”).^[3] Varro derived it from ⟨lūx⟩, or from the Greek name of the lamp, Ancient Greek λύχνος (lúkhnos).^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3][6] whose Mostellaria has someone told to put out the lamp.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the oil lamp, and gives the phrases ad lucernam “by lamplight” and ante lucernās “before nightfall”.^[2] It often alludes to night work by writers: Varro says he worked “by the lamp of Aristophanes”.^[2] Pliny the Elder uses it as the name of a fish whose fiery tongue shines at night.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “candle, lamp, light”.^[7] In Medieval Latin, after the Gospel of Luke, it was also the eye, and a dormer window.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of an oil lamp.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of night study by lamplight.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a shining fish.^[2][6]
• Medieval Latin – the eye; a dormer window.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An oil lamp;^[2][5][1][7] ad lucernam, by lamplight;^[2][5][1][7] ante lucernās, before nightfall.^[2][5][1][7]
2. The lamp of nocturnal study.^[2]
3. A phosphorescent fish.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) The eye; a dormer window.^[8]

Word family

• lucernaris
• lucernarium
• lucernārius
• lucernatus
• lucernula

Related words

• lūx
• lūceō
• lanterna

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes candēla, a candle that can be carried about like a torch, from lucerna, a lamp burning on a table.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper