FromProto-Italic*lakus, fromProto-Indo-European*lókus(“lake, pool”); the reason for the change to*a is debated, but likely from velarized *[ɫ].[1] Cognate withAncient Greekλάκκος(lákkos,“cistern,tank,pit”) andOld Englishlagu(“sea, ocean, flood”). More atlay.
lacus m (genitivelacūs);fourth declension
- alake,pond,basin;reservoir
- atank,tub,sink,vat,wine-vat
8CE,
Ovid,
Fasti3.558:
- inque cavōs ierant tertia mustalacūs
- and three times had the must been poured into the hollowwine-vats
(The Latin wordlacus, meaning ‘‘hollow’’ or ‘‘lake’’, also described a container used in ancientwinemaking. See alsomustum andmust.)
Fourth-declension noun (dative/ablative plural in-ubus).
- ^De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “lacus, -ūs”, inEtymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN,pages322–323
- “lacus”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “lacus”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- "lacus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- lacus inGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “lacus”, inHarry Thurston Peck, editor (1898),Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “lacus”, inWilliam Smith et al., editor (1890),A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
