luscus

Forms

luscus (feminine lusca, neuter luscum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Italic *luk-sko- (“with partial sight”),^[2][3] which Fruyt connects with the root of Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“light”); de Vaan compares a Celtic verb “to see”.^[2] Walde–Hofmann instead start from ⟨*nuscus⟩, with the initial changed under the influence of lūx (“light”), and the OLD follows this, comparing nuscitiō (“night-blindness”);^[2][4] de Vaan finds the Baltic words they compare a poor match in meaning.^[2] Köbler also compares a root meaning “dark”,^[5] and the TLL calls the origin uncertain.^[6] Isidore explains it as one who sees light only in part.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[2][5] in whom one man threatens to gouge out the other's eye if he says another word, and gets the reply “then I'll say it as a one-eyed man”.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

It means blind in one eye, one-eyed.^[4][7] Varro reports the argument that, although it is like stultus, it has no comparative or superlative.^[6] Wiktionary also gives “with one eye shut, as when taking aim”.^[1] Fronto uses it of obscure speech.^[4] It was a Roman cognomen.^[1] Church Latin has it as one-eyed.^[8] Its feminine lusca passed through Old French into French louche (“squinting”), which gave English louche “disreputable” (1819).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a one-eyed man.^[4][2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro, on its lack of degrees of comparison.^[6][5]
• 100–170 AD – Fronto, of obscure speech.^[4][5]
• 1819 – English louche, through French.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Blind in one eye, one-eyed.^[4][7][1]
2. With one eye shut, as when taking aim.^[1]
3. Of speech, obscure.^[4]

Word family

• luscinius
• luscinus
• lusciōsus
• luscītiō

Related words

• lūx
• luscinia
• luscītiōsus
• English louche

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson