lacuna Latin · revision 694

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ɫaˈkuː.na]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [laˈkuː.na]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lacūna''' ''f'' (genitive lacūnae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is derived from [[lacus]] “lake, pond; basin”, as Varro and Festus already noted.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary explains it as the feminine of an adjective *lacūnus “of lakes”, formed like [[opportunus|alt=opportūnus]] from [[portus]], and used as a noun, perhaps from [[m|la|lacūna aqua|t=cistern water]], while Etymonline calls it a diminutive.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) A by-form [[m|la|lucūna]] is recorded.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Cato onwards, who tells how to make a large [[m|en|hollow]] inside a lime kiln,^(OLD 2012) although Köbler dates it from Varro.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a depression, hollow or pit, as of uneven ground that collects water, a furrow, or the hollows above a horse's eyes, and Ovid uses it of dimples.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It meant a pool or pond, and the poets called the sea ''salsae lacunae'' “salt pools”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it meant a gap or deficiency, as in Cicero's “to fill up the gap in his fortune”.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ In medieval Latin it meant a lake,^(Niermeyer 1976) and in Neo-Latin the lagoons of Venice.^(Ramminger) It gave Italian and Spanish ''laguna'', the source of [[en|lagoon]], and English borrowed ''lacuna'' itself in the 1660s for a gap in a manuscript.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for a hollow in a kiln.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for hollows that collect water.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius calls the sea ''salsae lacunae''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a gap in someone's means.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Renaissance – Neo-Latin writers use it for the lagoons of Venice.^(Ramminger)

+ * 1660s – English borrows it as [[en|lacuna]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|hollow]], pit, cavity; a dimple.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A pool, pond, (poetic) the sea.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A gap, deficiency.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A lake, ''(New Latin)'' a [[m|en|lagoon]].^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Ramminger)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lacūnar]]

+ * [[lacūnāria]]

+ * [[lacūnārius]]

+ * [[lacūnō]]

+ * [[lacūnōsus]]

+ * [[lacūnarium]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lacūnātūra]]

+ * [[lacus]]

+ * [[en|lacuna]]

+ * [[en|lagoon]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}