luctificus Latin · revision 34599

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la lūctus, la faciō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɫuːkˈtɪ.fɪ.kʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [lukˈtiː.fi.kus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lūctificus''' (feminine lūctifica, neuter lūctificum, comparative lūctificior, superlative lūctificissimus); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|lūctus|-ficus|t1=grief, mourning]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The TLL derives it from the noun and [[m|la|faciō|t=to make]].^(TLL) The noun belongs to [[m|la|lūgeō|t=to mourn]], whose root is disputed: de Vaan reports the common connection with [[ine-pro|*lug-|t=to break]], and an alternative one with [[ine-pro|*loug-eie-|t=to swallow, gasp]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first known use is in a verse fragment Cicero quotes in the ''Tusculan Disputations'', in which Prometheus speaks of an old ''lūctifica clādēs'', a grievous disaster, fixed in his body; some attribute the lines to Accius.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The TLL notes that it is poetic, except in Ammianus Marcellinus, who used it in prose for the sake of rhythm.^(TLL) Virgil calls the Fury Allecto ''lūctifica'', and Seneca, Lucan, Silius Italicus, Valerius Flaccus and Statius use it of baleful powers, winds, the sun and sounds;^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) Valerius Flaccus has the neuter as an adverb, of a trumpet sounding mournfully.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) In Ammianus it describes a region always the cause of trouble and bloodshed and slaughters that caused grief.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval British writers used it both for what causes grief and, passively, for people afflicted with grief.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero quotes it in a verse fragment.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Allecto ''lūctifica''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it in prose.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Causing [[m|en|sorrow]]; [[m|en|dire]], [[m|en|calamitous]], baleful.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Afflicted with [[m|en|grief]], sorrowful.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ammianus Marcellinus used it in place of the more usual [[luctuosus|alt=lūctuōsus]], which he also uses.^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}