lustro

Forms

lūstrō (present infinitive lūstrāre, perfect active lūstrāvī, supine lūstrātum); first conjugation^[1] Livius Andronicus has a deponent lūstror.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from lūstrum (“purification”) with the verb suffix -ō.^[2][3][1][4] The origin of the noun is disputed: Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny derived it from the root of lūx (“light”), as “illumination”, but de Vaan finds no evidence for that meaning and prefers Serbat's derivation from the root of luō (“to loosen, atone”), with the suffix of mōnstrum.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first author is Livius Andronicus.^[5] Cato gives the rite: agrum lūstrāre sīc oportet, “this is how a field must be purified”: have the pig, sheep and bull led round it.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to purify by a ritual that included a procession round the person or place, as a field or an army before a campaign, and to atone for an event (Lucan).^[2] Since the rite went round, it came to mean to move round or circle, as the stars round the sky in Cicero, and to traverse or roam: Pythagoras is said to have travelled the furthest lands.^[2] With lūmine or alone it is to spread light over, illuminate.^[2] With the eyes it is to scan or survey, as Aeneas looks over each thing in the temple, with the mind to review, and in Virgil to look round for someone.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “purify, cleanse; illuminate, consider, review”.^[6] English lustrate (1650s), “purify by an offering”, comes from its participle.^[4]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus.^[5][7]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of purifying a field.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of stars circling and of roaming far lands.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of surveying with the eyes.^[2][7]
• 1650s – English lustrate.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To purify (by a rite with a procession); to atone for.^[2][1][6]
2. To move round, circle; to surround.^[2][1]
3. To traverse, roam, scour.^[2][1]
4. To spread light over, illuminate.^[2][1][6]
5. To scan, survey, review; to look round for.^[2][1][6]

Word family

• collūstrō
• illūstrō
• lūstrāmen
• lūstrāmentum
• lūstrātiō
• lūstrātor
• lūstricus
• lūstrificus
• perlūstrō

Related words

• lūstrum
• luō
• English lustrate

Usage notes

A separate noun lustrō, -ōnis, is a frequenter of brothels or a vagabond, found in Naevius; it comes from lustrum, “den, brothel”.^[2][3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de