lens Latin · revision 7579
16 Oct 2026, 14:06 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)”
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+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=Cato}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈɫẽːs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlɛns]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''lēns''' ''f'' (genitive lentis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ Its origin is unknown, probably a borrowing from an unidentified language.^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Similar words for the lentil exist in [[goh|linsa]], [[lt|lęšis]] and [[sla-pro|*lęťa]], too close to be chance but too different for a common ancestor.^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The OLD compares [[grc|λάθυρος|tr=láthuros|t=vetch]].^(OLD 2012) The accusative is ⟨lentim⟩ in Cato, and Titinius treats it as masculine.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation is from Cato, of the lentil plant.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant the lentil plant, as in Cato and Virgil, and in Pliny the Elder its seed, the lentil, which Pliny says loves thin soil.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) In Vegetius it meant duckweed.^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ It survives in Romanian ''linte'' and was borrowed into Italian and Spanish ''lente''.^(Wiktionary) Its derivative ''lenticula'' gave the word lentil, and [[en|lens]] was named from it in the 1690s for the double-convex shape of the glass.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the lentil plant.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the lentil.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the seed.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1690s – English ''lens'' is named from it.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # The [[m|en|lentil]] plant.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A lentil (the seed).^(OLD 2012)
+ # Duckweed.^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[lenticula]]
+ * [[lentīgō]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[nīdor]]
+ * [[en|lens]]
+ * [[en|lentil]]
+
+ ==Usage notes==
+ A different noun ''lēns, lendis'' means a nit, a louse's egg, as in Pliny the Elder.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}