leaena Latin · revision 33905

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=81/79–52/50 BC, Catullus|origins=grc λέαινα}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɫeˈae̯.na]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [leˈɛː.na]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''leaena''' ''f'' (genitive leaenae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A late text spells it ''liena''.^(TLL)

+ Niermeyer also gives ''lena''.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|λέαινα|tr=léaina|t=lioness]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) the feminine of the Greek word for lion;^(Köbler 2010) Köbler notes that the Greek word may itself come from a Semitic language.^(Köbler 2010) Diomedes pairs it with [[leō]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Catullus,^(Köbler 2010) who uses it in poem 64;^(Lewis & Short 1879) the TLL finds it as a proper name earlier, in Plautus.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a lioness.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil uses it in the ''Eclogues'' and the ''Georgics'', Ovid often in the ''Metamorphoses'', and Pliny the Elder and Gellius in prose.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero is quoted for a bronze lioness that was set up.^(Lewis & Short 1879) As a proper name ''Leaena'' is a character in Plautus' ''Curculio'',^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) and a courtesan of Athens in the time of Harmodius and Aristogiton, named by Pliny the Elder and Lactantius, whom Lewis & Short call heroic.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It keeps the sense "lioness" in Church and Medieval Latin.^(Stelten 1995)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has ''Leaena'' as a name.^(TLL)^(Wiktionary)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a lioness.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of lionesses.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius of the courtesan Leaena.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

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

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[leō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}