lacus Latin · revision 3312

15 Oct 2026, 19:34 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
Initial text

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *lókus}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈɫa.kʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlaː.kus]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''lacus''' ''m'' (genitive lacūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)
+ Late Latin also has a second-declension genitive ''laci''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*laku-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*lok-u-|t=lake, pool]]; the /a/ may come from unrounding after a velarized /l/.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ Cognate with [[sga|loch|t=lake]], [[grc|λάκκος|tr=lákkos|t=pond, pit]] and [[ang|lagu|t=sea, water]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ It is found from Plautus onwards,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) whose character says he will run to a fishpond or a [[m|en|lake]] to fetch mud.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant a lake or pond, and ''lacus siccus'', “a dry lake”, was proverbial for something useless.^(OLD 2012) It was also an artificial basin, cistern or reservoir, as a bathing pool in an inscription, and a trough or vat, as Cato's vat into which the oil flows and Virgil's trough where smiths quench hot bronze.^(OLD 2012) Lucilius used it for a panel of a ceiling.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ In Christian and Medieval Latin it meant a pit or grave, the lions' den of Daniel, and a prison or hell.^(Niermeyer 1976) It survives as Italian, Spanish and Portuguese ''lago'' and French and Romanian ''lac''.^(Wiktionary) English ''lake'' came from Old French and Latin in the early 12th century.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a lake.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it for a ceiling panel.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for an oil vat.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for a smith's trough.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * early 12th century – English ''lake'' is first recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|lake]], pond.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # A basin, cistern, [[m|en|reservoir]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A trough, vat.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A ceiling panel.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A pit; a den; a prison.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[laccātus]]
+ * [[lacusculus]]
+ * [[laciculus]]
+ * [[laculatus]]
+ * [[lacūna]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|lake]]
+ * [[en|lacuna]]
+ * [[en|lagoon]]
+ 
+ ==Usage notes==
+ Döderlein distinguishes ''lacuna'', any standing water in poetic language, from ''lacus'' and ''stagnum'', standing water kept fresh by springs.^(Döderlein 1874)
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}