Etymologically
Log in

lusus

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word lusus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
116–27 BC, Varro
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*loid-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫuː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈluː.s̬us][1]

Forms

lūsus (feminine lūsa, neuter lūsum); first/second-declension participle[1] It is sometimes spelled lussus, and once lōsus.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from lūdō (“to play”) with the suffix -tus of action nouns.[3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨lūdō⟩ to Proto-Italic *loid-e/o- (“to play”) and Proto-Indo-European *loid- (“to let go often, play”), cognate with Old Irish laídid (“impels”) and Lithuanian léisti (“to let”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Varro onwards.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the action of playing, sport, and gambling, as Suetonius' game of dice;[3][5] Propertius has “the shepherds' yearly feasts, the games in the city”, and Livy young men who turned to games.[3][5] It is something not taken seriously, as the elder Seneca's pirates for whom right and wrong are a game, and amorous play, as in Propertius.[3][5][1] It is a public show, and lūsus Trōiae was a sham fight on horseback;[3] Martial uses it of the shows in Caesar's arena.[3]

It is also a joke or prank, as the playful verses of the Priapea, and a light literary work, as Ovid's trifles.[3] Lewis and Short note that it is not in Cicero.[5] Döderlein makes lūdus play as something offered to a person, and lūsus the play one carries on oneself.[6] Church Latin glosses it “game, sport, play”.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro.[2][8]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of games and of love play.[3][8]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of young men's games.[3][8]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of light verse.[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Playing, play, sport; gambling; a game.[3][5][1][7]
  2. Something not taken seriously; amorous play, dalliance.[3][1]
  3. A public show;[3] lūsus Trōiae, a sham fight on horseback.[3]
  4. A joke, prank, jest.[3][1]
  5. A light literary work, a trifle.[3]

Usage notes

A separate word lussus or lūsus, “husband's brother”, is found only in the glosses.[2] Lūsus is also a companion of Bacchus, whom Portuguese legend made the founder of Lusitania.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ 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
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Lusus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/lusus. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·