lucus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɫuː.kʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈluː.kus]^[1]

Forms

lūcus m (genitive lūcī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *louko- (“sacred grove”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *lówk-o- (“light place, clearing”), from the root of lūx “light”.^[2][1][3] An old inscription has loucom.^[2][3] Cognate with Oscan lúvkeí (“in the grove”), Umbrian vukum, Sanskrit लोक (loká, “open space”) and Old High German lōh (“low bushes”).^[2][3] Isidore explains it by contraries, a dense grove that keeps out the light, or from the lights burnt there.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who speaks of the grove of Silvanus outside the wall.^[2][3] An early inscription from Spoletium forbids anyone to violate this grove.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a sacred grove, and Cato prescribes the Roman rite for thinning one (lūcum collūcāre).^[3] In poetry it was any wood or grove.^[3] Several towns were named from groves, as Lūcus Augustī in Gaul.^[6][7]

Medieval writers used it of the groves of idolaters cut down by the Christians, and in charters of a wood.^[8][9] It survives in place names such as Italian Lugo.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of the grove of Silvanus.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of sacred groves.^[6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus names Lūcus Augustī.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sacred grove.^[3]
2. (poetic) A wood, grove.^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A wood.^[9]

Word family

• lūcar
• lūcāris
• lūculus
• collūcō
• interlūcō
• sublucō

Related words

• lūna
• lūx
• nemus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill