lucrativus

Forms

lucrātīvus (feminine lucrātīva, neuter lucrātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lucror (“to gain”) + -īvus.^[2][3] Wiktionary derives it from the participle lucrātus.^[1] The verb lucror belongs with lucrum (“gain, profit”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is the first to use it,^[3] of something won from other business: in a letter to Atticus he would rather have one basking “in illo lucrativo tuo sole” (“in that spare sun of yours”) than all kingdoms.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Quintilian says no day is so busy that some spare time for writing cannot be snatched,^[2][3] and Fronto speaks of spare times.^[5] The TLL notes that it is most frequent in legal language,^[3] where it describes what is acquired at no cost, as a gift or bequest;^[2][5] Gaius explains that this kind of possession is called lucrative because one knowingly profits from another's property.^[2][5]

In Medieval Latin it meant profitable, so of trade and fairs,^[6] productive of something, and greedy for gain.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of spare time won from business.^[3][5][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of spare work snatched for writing.^[2][4]
• 100–170 AD – Fronto speaks of spare times.^[5][4]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of possession acquired without cost.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Gained or spared from other business (of time, work); valuable, profitable.^[2][5][3]
2. (law) Acquired at no cost, as by gift or bequest: ex causā lucrātīvā.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Lucrative; productive (of, with the genitive).^[6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Greedy for gain.^[6]

Related words

• lucror
• lucrum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d 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
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson