Etymologically
Log in

lucror

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 00:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫʊ.krɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈluː.kror][1]

Forms

lucror (present infinitive lucrārī, perfect active lucrātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lucrum (“gain, profit”), a denominative verb.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces lucrum to Proto-Italic *luklo-, dissimilated to ⟨lukro-⟩, and Proto-Indo-European *lh₂u-tló- (“seizure, gain”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἀπολαύω (apolaúō, “to enjoy”) and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌽 (laun, “reward”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero, Horace, Livy and Manilius on, and more often in legal language.[3] In the Verrines Cicero speaks of discharging sailors for a fixed price and pocketing all their pay.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to gain as profit,[2] as in Horace's Pythias, who tricks Simo out of a talent, and in the gamblers of Tacitus' Germania, who stake everything on winning or losing.[2][5] It is also used of things not material: Horace speaks of one who came back with a name won from conquered Africa.[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of saving on salt, and Apuleius of saving money.[2][6] Cicero has it in the sense of being spared something: “let him be spared the evidence of his old infamy”.[2][5] It is common in legal texts.[3]

In Christian Latin it means to win someone over: in the Vulgate's First Corinthians the writer became a Jew to the Jews “that I might gain the Jews”,[5][7] and Augustine uses it of a heretic won for the Catholic Church.[3] Stelten gives “convert, persuade” among its Church senses.[8] It lives on in Romanian lucra (“to work”) and in Spanish lograr (“to obtain”) and Portuguese lograr.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of pocketing the sailors' pay.[2][9]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of winning a name from Africa.[2][9]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of saving salt.[2][9]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of winning people over.[5][9]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of winning a heretic for the Church.[3][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To acquire as profit, gain, win; to make a profit.[2][5]
  2. To win (something immaterial, such as a name).[2][5]
  3. To gain by economy, save.[2][5]
  4. To be spared (punishment or the like).[2][7]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To win over, convert.[5][8]

Word family

  • lucrātiō
  • lucrātīvus
  • lucrātor
  • superlucror
  • lucricupīdō
  • lucrifaciō
  • lucrificābilis
  • lucrificō
  • lucrifuga
  • lucriō
  • lucripeta
  • lucrius
  • lucrōsē
  • lucrōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de