luctus

Forms

lūctus m (genitive lūctūs); fourth declension^[1] Accius has the genitive lūctī.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin lūgeō (“to mourn”) + -tus, an action noun.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives lūgeō from Proto-Italic *loug-eje- and Proto-Indo-European *loug-eie- (“to swallow, gasp”), comparing Ancient Greek λύζω (lúzō, “to have the hiccups, sob”) and Old Irish loingid (“eats”); the verb is often connected instead with Proto-Indo-European *lug- (“to break”), since breaking and mourning are often linked.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato asks quantum lūctum, quantum gemitum … factum audīvī?, “what mourning, what groaning I heard was raised!”.^[2] Accius has maior erit lūctus, cum mē damnātum audiet, “his grief will be greater when he hears I am condemned”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lūctus is the outward expression of grief, “mourning, lamentation”, especially for the dead (Cicero: quem lūctum … Lampsacēnōrum, “what mourning of the people of Lampsacus”, Virgil: maestō … immūgit rēgia lūctū, “the palace groans with sad lamentation”), and also the feeling, “grief, sorrow”.^[2][3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “grief, mourning, lamentation”.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato: quantum lūctum, quantum gemitum.^[2][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius: maior erit lūctus.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of public mourning.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: maestō … rēgia lūctū.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. mourning, lamentation (especially for the dead).^[2][3][1][6]
2. grief, sorrow.^[2][3][1][6]

Word family

• luctifer
• lūctificus
• luctisonus
• lūctuōsus

Related words

• lūgeō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes dolor, the inward feeling of grief, from the words for its outward signs: trīstitia and maestitia show it naturally in the face and bearing, while lūctus, like Greek πένθος, is its deliberate, conventional show, such as cutting the hair and wearing mourning clothes for an appointed time.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper