Etymology
From Proto-Italic *louks, from Proto-Indo-European *léwks. Cognates include Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white, blank, light, bright, clear”), Ancient Greek λύκη (lúkē, “light, morning twilight”), Sanskrit रोचते (rocate) and Old English lēoht (English light (noun)).
Noun
lūx f (genitive lūcis); third declension
- light (of the sun, stars etc.)
- Synonym: lūmen
405 CE,
Jerome,
Vulgate Genesis.1.3:
- dīxitque Deus fīat lūx et facta est lūx
- And God said: Let there be light. And there was light.
- daylight, day, moonlight
- Synonym: aurōra
- prīmā lūce ― at daybreak
- ad lūcem ― at dawn
8 CE,
Ovid,
Fasti 6.113–116:
- huic aliquis iuvenum dīxisset amantia verba,
reddēbat tālēs prōtinus illa sonōs:
‘haec loca lūcis habent nimis et cum lūce pudōris;
sī sēcrēta magis dūcis in antra, sequor.’- If ever some young man spoke to this [nymph] the words of love, immediately she replied with statements such as: “These places have too much of daylight and, with the light, [too much] of shame; if you lead to more secluded caves, I [will] follow [you].”
(A clever ruse used by Cardea; along the journey to the cave, she would then hide from her unsuspecting suitor.)
- life
- Synonym: vīta
- (figuratively) public view
- glory, encouragement
- enlightenment, explanation
- splendour
- eyesight, the eyes, luminary
Declension
Third-declension noun.
More information singular, plural ...
Close
- A locative singular lūcī is attested by Plautus, meaning "by daylight".
Descendants
Descendants
- Balkan Romance:
- Italo-Dalmatian:
- Padanian:
- Rhaeto-Romance:
- Gallo-Romance:
- Ibero-Romance:
- Aragonese: luz
- Asturian: lluz
- Extremaduran: lus
- Mirandese: luç
- Old Galician-Portuguese: luz
- Spanish: luz
- Insular Romance:
- Borrowings (unit of illuminance):
References
- “lux”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “lux”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- "lux", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- lux in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- before daybreak: ante lucem
- the day is already far advanced: multus dies or multa lux est
- to see the light, come into the world: in lucem edi
- those to whom we owe our being: ei, propter quos hanc lucem aspeximus
- to sleep on into the morning: in lucem dormire
- to shun publicity: publico carere, forum ac lucem fugere
- (ambiguous) at daybreak: prima luce
- (ambiguous) in full daylight: luce (luci)
- (ambiguous) to enjoy the privilege of living; to be alive: vita or hac luce frui
- (ambiguous) to shun publicity: forensi luce carere
- (ambiguous) this is as clear as daylight: hoc est luce (sole ipso) clarius
- Online Latin dictionary, Olivetti