lactuca Latin · revision 37015

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la lac}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɫakˈtuː.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [lakˈtuː.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lactūca''' ''f'' (genitive lactūcae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|lac|-ūca|t1=milk]], with the ending of plant names such as [[m|la|ērūca|t=rocket]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary explains the name from the milky juice of cut lettuce stems.^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|lac]] to [[ine-pro|*glg-t-|t=milk]], cognate with [[grc|γάλα|tr=gála]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Varro already derived the name from the word for milk, because the plant has milk in it, and Pliny the Elder, Palladius and Isidore repeat the explanation.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan records it from Varro,^(de Vaan 2008) and Köbler from Lucilius;^(Köbler 2010) the OLD's first citation is from a fragment of an unknown Roman comedy.^(OLD 2012) It is the [[m|en|lettuce]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Columella, Celsus and Pliny the Elder treat it as a garden vegetable and a remedy, and Pliny describes several kinds.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Horace says that after wine lettuce floats in a sour stomach (''lactuca innatat acri post vinum stomacho'').^(Conte 2010) ''Lactuca marina'' or ''caprina'' was a kind of spurge.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) The Vulgate has ''lactucae agrestes'', wild lettuces, in Exodus.^(Georges 1913) In Ecclesiastical Latin it is simply lettuce.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it, according to Köbler.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro derives its name from ''lac''.^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace mentions lettuce after wine.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus names ''lactuca marina'', a spurge.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes several kinds.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|lettuce|alt=Lettuce]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''lactūca marīna'', ''lactūca caprīna'': kinds of [[m|en|spurge]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lactūcārius]]

+ * [[lactucosus]]

+ * [[lactūcula]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}