lepus Latin · revision 32605

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɫɛ.pʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈlɛː.pus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lepus''' ''m'' (genitive leporis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably not an Indo-European word.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Pliny calls [[grc|λεβηρίς|tr=lebērís|t=rabbit]] a word of Massilia, which has led to the suggestion that the Latin word was borrowed from Iberian; de Vaan thinks this possible but not certain, since it could also come from a substrate in Italy itself.^(de Vaan 2008) Varro and the OLD compare a Sicilian form [[m|grc|λέποριν|tr=léporin]], and the TLL thinks the word was common to the peoples around the Mediterranean.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Ancient grammarians, from Aelius Stilo, derived it from ⟨levipes⟩, “light-footed”.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus.^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler dates it from Plautus, who has a character told to go and hunt a hare.^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the hare.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It appears in proverbs: in Terence, you are a hare and you look for tidbits.^(OLD 2012) Plautus uses it as a pet name, in a list with sparrow and dove.^(OLD 2012) Cicero's translation of Aratus has the swift-footed Hare under Orion's feet, the constellation [[m|en|Lepus]].^(OLD 2012) The sea hare, a kind of sea slug, is in Ovid.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Varro and Pliny also make it feminine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of hunting a hare and as a pet name.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in a proverb.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the constellation.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the sea hare.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|hare]]; in proverbs; as a term of endearment.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The [[m|en|constellation]] Lepus, the Hare.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''lepus marīnus'', the sea hare, a kind of [[m|en|sea slug]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[leporārius]]

+ * [[leporīnus]]

+ * [[lepusculus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A rare neuter ''lepus'', from [[grc|λέπος|tr=lépos|t=husk]], is a husk or shell in a Latin translation of Oribasius.^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}