lucubro

Forms

lūcubrō (present infinitive lūcubrāre, perfect active lūcubrāvī, supine lūcubrātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is a verb in -ō made from an unattested noun from Latin *lūcubrum (“lamplight”), formed lūceō (“to shine”) with the suffix -brum, as in tenebrae.^[2] De Vaan, who treats it under lūx (“light”), likewise takes it as a denominative of a noun meaning “lamplight”.^[3] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“light”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Varro (116–27 BC),^[3][4] in the Menippean satires, of working by lamplight until the whole lamp had burned out.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Used without an object it meant to work at night, by lamp or candle;^[2][5] Livy has the maids spinning by night among whom Lucretia is found.^[2][5] Used with an object it meant to produce something by night work: Cicero calls a short treatise of his opusculum lucubratum in the shortening nights,^[2] and Apuleius uses it of travelling a road by night.^[6]

Its derivative lūcubrātiō “night work” gave English lucubration in the 1590s, and the past participle gave lucubrate in the 1620s.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of working by lamplight.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it with an object, of a work written at night.^[2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes of maids working at night.^[5][4]
• 1620s – English borrows lucubrate from its participle.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To work by lamplight, work late at night.^[2][5]
2. (transitive) To make or compose by lamplight or at night.^[2][5]

Word family

• illucubratus
• lūcubrātiō
• lūcubrātōrius
• ēlūcubrō

Related words

• lūceō
• lūcubrātiuncula
• lūx

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com