lustrum Latin · revision 5197

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Cato}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lūstrum''' ''n'' (genitive lūstrī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Etymonline) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*lūstro-|t=expiation]], with the suffix of [[mōnstrum]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) Walde and Pokorny derived it from an earlier sense “illumination”, from the root of [[lūx]], but de Vaan finds no good evidence for this; a link with [[lavō]] “to wash” is possible but also unsupported.^(de Vaan 2008) The OED, quoted by Etymonline, suggests the root of [[luō]] “to wash”.^(Etymonline) Varro derived it from [[m|la|luō|alt=luere]] “to pay”, because the censors collected taxes every fifth year.^(Varro)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a ceremony of purification, above all the one the censors performed every five years at the close of the census, called ''lūstrum condere'', with the sacrifice of a pig, a sheep and a bull.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From this it meant a censor's five-year term, then any period of five years, and loosely four years or any long period.^(OLD 2012) It was also a festival held every four or five years and the cycle of a heavenly body.^(OLD 2012) Isidore explains it as a Greek ''pentetēris'', a period of five years.^(Isidore)

+

+ [[en|lustrum]] was borrowed in the 1580s.^(Etymonline) The verb [[lūstrō]] “to purify; to survey” is related; [[en|luster]] goes back to it in its sense “to illuminate”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a censor's term and of a five-year period.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero says a censor closed the lustrum and sacrificed a bull.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro derives it from ''luere'' “to pay”.^(Varro)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1580s – English ''lustrum'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A ceremony of [[m|en|purification]], especially the one closing the census, ''lūstrum condere'', to perform it.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A censor's five-year term of office.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A period of five years; a period of four years; a long period.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A festival held every four or five years.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The period of a heavenly body's revolution.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bilūstris]]

+ * [[lūstrālis]]

+ * [[lūstricus]]

+ * [[lūstrificus]]

+ * [[lustrō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[luō]]

+ * [[en|lustrum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A different noun ''lustrum'', mostly in the plural ''lustra'', meant a bog, the haunts of wild beasts, and a den of vice; the OLD relates it to [[lutum]] “mud”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}