letalis Latin · revision 33470

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=ine-pro *leh1-to-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɫeːˈtaː.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [leˈtaː.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lētālis''' (neuter lētāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelt ''lēthālis''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ Etymonline explains this Late Latin spelling by association with Greek ''lēthē'', “forgetfulness”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|lētum|-ālis|t1=death]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) formed like [[m|la|vītālis]] and [[m|la|exitiālis]].^(TLL) De Vaan derives [[m|la|lētum]] from [[itc-pro|*lēto-]] and [[ine-pro|*leh1-to-]], perhaps a past participle “let go” used as a noun, “letting go” and so “death”, and compares Slavic words for “summer, year”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ According to the TLL it is found from Virgil and Ovid on, and its reading in Lucretius is doubtful;^(TLL) Köbler dates it from Lucretius.^(Köbler 2010) Virgil has ''haeret laterī lētālis harundō'', “the deadly arrow clings to her side”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means deadly, fatal or mortal, of wounds, weapons, poisons and diseases,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and also of things connected with death, as Ovid's deadly cold.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and late;^(Lewis & Short 1879) the TLL finds it in prose only from Seneca and Pliny the Elder on.^(TLL) It has no comparative or superlative.^(TLL) Livy uses the neuter plural ''lētālia'' for means of death,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Statius the neuter as an adverb, “in a deadly way”.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Medieval Latin it could mean leading to the loss of the soul, of mourning, mortal or perishable, and cadaverous.^(Niermeyer 1976) English took ''lethal'' from the Late Latin spelling ''lethalis'' in the 1580s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a deadly arrow.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has ''lētālia'', means of death.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of deadly cold and a sword.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in prose.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1580s – English borrows it as ''lethal''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or connected with [[m|en|death]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|deadly|alt=Deadly]], [[m|en|fatal]], [[m|en|lethal]], mortal.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Leading to the perdition of the soul; [[m|en|mortal]], perishable.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lētum]]

+ * [[lētifer]]

+ * [[en|lethal]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}