latex Latin · revision 31716

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=170–c. 90 BC, Accius|origins=grc λάταξ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɫa.tɛks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈlaː.teks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''latex''' ''m'' (genitive laticis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Accius has it as a feminine.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|grc|λάταξ|tr=látax|t=drop of wine]], with the Greek ending changed to ⟨-ex⟩ to fit the Latin nouns in ⟨-ex⟩.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The Thesaurus connects the Greek word with the game of cottabus, played with the last drops of wine, which may have come to Latin from Sicily or southern Italy.^(TLL) De Vaan agrees with Ernout and Meillet that the shift from a drop of wine to water in general is strange, unless it began as a strong metaphor; the word is mainly poetic.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Accius,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who has “not washed with warm water”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a poetic word for water, especially running water, as a stream or spring, and for any liquid or juice, as Lucretius' “vine-born liquids” for wine and Virgil's “the feigned waters of Avernus”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin glosses it “liquid, water”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ In New Latin it was used in medicine of a clear liquid in the body and in botany of the milky sap that some plants exude when cut.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of water.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of wine.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of the waters of Avernus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1660s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|latex]], first of a bodily fluid.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|water|alt=Water]]; running water, a stream or spring.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|liquid]], [[m|en|juice]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(New Latin)'' A clear bodily fluid; the milky sap of plants, [[m|en|latex]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Commodian uses a separate ''latex'' in the plural for hiding places, a learned coinage from [[lateō]].^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}