letum Latin · revision 5728

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *leh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lētum''' ''n'' (genitive lētī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*lēto-]], perhaps [[inh|ine-pro|*leh₁-to-]], a participle “let go” used as a noun, “letting go”, then “death”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) It would then be the same formation as Slavic *lěto “summer, year”, as in [[ru|лето|tr=leto|t=summer]], from “going”.^(de Vaan 2008) Other proposals connect *ley- “to flow” or *lewH- “to loosen”.^(Wiktionary) Varro and Festus derived it from [[grc|λήθη|tr=lḗthē|t=forgetting]], whence the spelling [[m|la|lēthum]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, whose soldier threatens to kill himself, ''cōnsciscam lētum''.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) Ennius has many meeting death.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC and Ennius 204–169 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was death, usually violent, and a manner of dying, as Cicero's “see what a shameful death we are dying”.^(OLD 2012) In poetry it was death and destruction, as Lucretius' door of death not closed to the sky.^(OLD 2012) Döderlein says ''mors'' is death as a physical fact and ''lētum'' death as fate, the more solemn and poetic word.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it was criminal jurisdiction over homicide, mortmain, and the death of the soul.^(Niermeyer 1976) The adjective [[lētālis]], spelled ''lēthālis'' in Late Latin, gave [[en|lethal]] in the 1580s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus' soldier threatens to kill himself.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius speaks of many meeting death.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a shameful death.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|Death]] (usually violent).^(OLD 2012)

+ # A manner of dying.^(OLD 2012)

+ # (poetic) Death and destruction, ruin.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lētālis]]

+ * [[lētifer]]

+ * [[lētificus]]

+ * [[lētō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lassus]]

+ * [[lēnis]]

+ * [[mors]]

+ * [[nex]]

+ * [[en|lethal]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''mors'' (death, the ordinary physical word), ''lētum'' (death as a destiny, poetic) and ''nex'' (violent death, murder).^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}