lugubris

Forms

lūgubris (neuter lūgubre, adverb lūgubre or lūgubriter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lūgeō (“to mourn”), probably from a stem ⟨*lugos-ri-⟩ built on an s-stem noun, with /sr/ becoming /br/ as in fūnebris (“funereal”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *loug-eje- and Proto-Indo-European *loug-eie- (“to swallow, gasp”), comparing Ancient Greek λύζω (lúzō, “to hiccup, sob”); others connect it with a root *leug- (“to break”), since breaking and mourning are often linked.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius,^[5] whose tragedy speaks of one girt with a mourning robe.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means indicative of mourning, as mourning dress in Terence and Tacitus, and the neuter plural is mourning garments; laments are doleful, as Cicero's lament over the dead, and people mourning, as Livy's houses in mourning for lost children.^[2][6] Of events it means sad or grievous, as in Plautus' Cistellaria, where a household would die of grievous hunger, and of omens gloomy or sinister, as Horace's Troy reborn under an ill-omened bird.^[2][1] English lugubrious (about 1600) is formed from it.^[4]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of a mourning robe.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of grievous hunger.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of laments over the dead.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a sinister omen.^[2][5]
• c. 1600 – English lugubrious is formed from it.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of mourning; as a neuter plural noun, mourning garments.^[2][6][1]
2. Of laments, doleful, plaintive; of persons, mourning.^[2][1]
3. Sad, grievous; of omens, gloomy, sinister.^[2][1]

Word family

• lūgubrē
• lūgubriter

Related words

• lūgeō
• lūctus
• English lugubrious

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press