Etymologically
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ludo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫuː.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈluː.do][1]

Forms

lūdō (present infinitive lūdere, perfect active lūsī, supine lūsum); third conjugation[1] Terence has the infinitive lūdier.[2] Varro has the supine lussum.[3]

Etymology

According to de Vaan it is inherited from Proto-Italic *loid-e/o- (“to play”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *loid- (“to let go often, play”), an o-grade present with frequentative sense, as the noun lūdus, archaic ⟨loid-⟩, ⟨loed-⟩, shows.[4][1] The OLD and the TLL compare the Greek gloss Ancient Greek λίζει (lízei, “plays”) in Hesychius,[3][5][4] and de Vaan also Middle Irish laídid (“impels”).[4] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus.[4] Plautus has lūdentī puerō … memordit sīmia, “a monkey bit the boy as he was playing”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Lūdere is “to play, sport”, with an ablative “to play with” a ball or dice (Terence: quom lūdās tesserīs, “when you play at dice”), and “to gamble”;[3][2][1] dē aliēnō coriō lūdere is to play with another man's skin.[3][2][1] It is used of amorous play (Catullus), of making merry (Plautus: nunc Bacchae nūllae lūdunt, “now there are no Bacchants revelling”), and of performing in public shows (Livy of bears and elephants in the circus).[3][1] It also means “to jest, joke” (Cicero), to amuse oneself with something, especially light verse, and to imitate in play.[3][1]

From play it passes to mockery and deceit: “to make fun of, ridicule” and “to delude, trick”.[1][2] Church Latin glosses it “to play, sport, frisk, frolic, mimic, mock”.[6]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.[4][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: lūdentī puerō.[3][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: quom lūdās tesserīs.[3][7]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of amorous play.[3][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of animals in the circus games.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To play, sport;[3][2][1][6] to play (with a ball, dice).[3]
  2. To gamble.[3]
  3. To sport amorously.[3][1]
  4. To make merry, frolic.[3][1][6]
  5. To perform (in public shows).[3]
  6. To jest, joke; to amuse oneself (with), especially by writing light verse.[3][1]
  7. To mimic, imitate in play.[1][6]
  8. To mock, ridicule; to delude, trick.[1][2][6]

Word family

  • ablūdō
  • allūdō
  • collūdō
  • dēlūdō
  • ēlūdō
  • illūdō
  • interludo
  • lūdibundus
  • lūdicrum
  • lūdiō
  • lūsiō
  • lūsitō
  • lūdus
  • lūdibrium
  • English ludicrous

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de