lutum Latin · revision 5645

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *lewH-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈɫʊ.tũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈluː.tum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lutum''' ''n'' (genitive lutī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*luto-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*l(H)u-to-|t=dirt]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sga|loth|t=dirt]], [[grc|λῦμα|tr=lûma|t=dirty water, filth]], [[sq|lym|t=slime, mud]] and [[lt|liutynas|t=loam pit]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) [[lustrum]] “wallow, bog” is from the same base, and the OLD connects [[polluō]] “to defile”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Isidore thought it was named by contrast, because it is not clean, as everything washed ([[m|la|lōtum]]) is.^(Isidore)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, who speaks of plastering a house with much clay.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was mud or mire, the dirt of the streets in Döderlein's distinction from ''līmus'' “river mud” and ''caenum'' “filth”.^(OLD 2012)^(Döderlein 1874) It was clay used for building and modelling, as Caesar's men covered a roof with bricks and clay, and a term of abuse, as Catullus' ''ō lutum, lupānar''.^(OLD 2012) Proverbially ''in lutō haerēre'' was to be stuck in a difficult spot and ''prō lutō esse'' to be dirt cheap.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ It survives in [[it|loto]], [[es|lodo]], [[pt|lodo]] and Romanian ''lut'' “clay”.^(Wiktionary) Alchemists' ''lutum sapientiae'' and [[en|lute]] “clay for sealing” came from it.^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of plastering with clay.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of earth for making clay.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it as a term of abuse.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|Mud]], [[m|en|mire]], dirt.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Clay (for building or modelling).^(OLD 2012)

+ # (term of abuse) Filth, scum.^(OLD 2012)

+ # (proverbial) ''in lutō haerēre'', to be in difficulties, ''prō lutō esse'', to be as cheap as dirt.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lustrum]]

+ * [[lutāmentum]]

+ * [[lutārius]]

+ * [[lutēnsis]]

+ * [[lutēscō]]

+ * [[lutitō]]

+ * [[lutō]]

+ * [[lutōsus]]

+ * [[lutulentus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[polluō]]

+ * [[līmus]]

+ * [[caenum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Lūtum'' (long ''ū'') is a different word, the dye plant [[m|en|weld]] and the yellow colour it gives, as in Virgil's fleeces dyed with saffron weld; its origin is unclear.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}