lustralis

Forms

lūstrālis (neuter lūstrāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lūstrum² (“purificatory sacrifice; period of five years”) + -ālis.^[2][3][1] De Vaan reconstructs that noun as Proto-Italic *lūstro- (“expiation”) and, following Serbat, derives it from the root of luō (“to set free, atone”); he finds the older derivation from the root of lūx (“light”) unsupported by the meaning of the rite.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil's Aeneid, where Aeneas eats of the entrails of a sacrifice offered for purification.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense belongs to the language of ritual: Livy has sacrificium lūstrāle, a sacrifice of purification, Ovid aqua lūstrālis, water used for cleansing, and Valerius Flaccus lustral vows;^[3] the OLD adds that offerings so called served to avert evil.^[2]

Since the lūstrum was performed every five years, the adjective also came to mean “quinquennial”: Tacitus speaks of a lūstrāle certāmen, a contest held every five years.^[2][3] In Late Latin aurum lūstrāle was a tax levied every five years on small traders, moneylenders and brothel-keepers, and an inscription calls its collector lūstrālis.^[3][1]

British medieval writers used it for “holy” (of water), for something that can be walked round, and as a noun for a circuit or track, and also for a post used to keep watch.^[6]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of sacrificial entrails offered for purification.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of a sacrifice of purification.^[3][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid writes of lustral water.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a contest held every five years.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to ritual purification, lustral;^[2][3] (of offerings) serving to avert evil.^[2]
2. Happening every five years, quinquennial.^[2][3]
3. (Late Latin) aurum lūstrāle: a tax collected every five years from traders.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) That can be walked round;^[6] used for keeping watch.^[6]

Noun

1. (Late Latin) The collector of the aurum lūstrāle.^[3][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A circuit, path, track.^[6]

Related words

• lūstrum²
• lūstrō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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 Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press