Etymologically
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luscus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫʊs.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈlus.kus][1]

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
  • 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