lens Latin · revision 8246

+ {{homograph|1|nit}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Pliny the Elder}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈɫẽːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlɛns]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lēns''' ''f'' (genitive lendis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The nit is of uncertain origin.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) It resembles the Indo-European words for “nit”, as [[grc|κονίς|tr=konís]], [[ang|hnitu]], [[sla-pro|*gnida]] and [[lt|glìnda]], and de Vaan suggests that a form *dḱ(o)nid- was deformed into Proto-Italic *(d)lind-, though the details are difficult.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Like its cognates, it may come from a substrate language.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Pliny the Elder names remedies that kill nits and lice, as dog's fat.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is rare, mostly plural, in Pliny and Serenus Sammonicus; grammarians record it also as masculine.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) Medieval writers used it with a variant ''lendina'', glossed in Old English as ''hnitu'', and Late Latin ''lendis'' survives in Old French ''lent'' and Walloon ''lin''.^(DMLBS)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of killing nits.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 700 – An Old English glossary renders ''lendina'' as ''hnitu''.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|nit]], the egg of a louse.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ {{homograph|2|lentil}}

+