Etymologically
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lugubris

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫuː.ɡʊ.brɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈluː.ɡu.bris][1]

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

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