lac Latin · revision 31035

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *glg-t-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɫak]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈlak]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lac''' ''n'' (genitive lactis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The nominative and accusative is also ''lacte'', in Ennius, Plautus and Cato, and ''lact'' in Varro and Pliny.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ Apuleius has a masculine accusative ''lactem''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*glagt-|t=milk]], [[inh|ine-pro|*glg-t-|t=milk]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[grc|γάλα|tr=gála|t=milk]], genitive [[m|grc|γάλακτος|tr=gálaktos]], and [[xcl|կաթն|tr=katʿn|t=milk]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) De Vaan explains the Latin loss of the initial ⟨g-⟩ by dissimilation, and rejects both Leumann's view that the word was borrowed from Greek and Sihler's reconstruction with an initial ⟨*dl-⟩.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author;^(de Vaan 2008) in the ''Truculentus'' the nurse needs milk (''lact''), and Ennius has the cheek that blushed “like milk mixed with purple”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is milk, and a type of whiteness, as in Ennius.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) It was proverbial for likeness: in Plautus no water is more like water nor milk more like milk than one twin is like the other.^(OLD 2012) By likeness it is the milky juice of plants, as Varro's milk of the fig branch, and the spawn of oysters (Pliny the Elder).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “milk”.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|lactic]] (1790) comes through French from its genitive ⟨lactis⟩.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a nurse's milk and of twins as like as milk.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of milk-white skin.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of the milky juice of the fig.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of oyster spawn.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1790 – English [[m|en|lactic]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|milk|alt=Milk]], ''(poetic)'' milk-white colour.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The milky juice of plants.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The spawn (of oysters).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[collactāneus]]

+ * [[lactāneus]]

+ * [[lactāris]]

+ * [[lactārius]]

+ * [[lactātum]]

+ * [[lacteō]]

+ * [[lacteolus]]

+ * [[lactēscō]]

+ * [[lacteus]]

+ * [[lacticīnium]]

+ * [[lactifer]]

+ * [[lactineus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dēlicus]]

+ * [[lactō]]

+ * [[en|lactic]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Tam similis quam lacte lactī'', “as like as milk to milk”, was the Latin for “as like as two peas”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}