lustrum

English

WOTD – 5 May 2019

Etymology

Two scenes from the historical panel of the so-called “Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus” (c. 122–115 B.C.E.). The upper image (left side of the panel) shows the Roman census being carried out, while the lower image (centre of the panel) shows the lustrum (sense 1).

From Latin lūstrum.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlʌstɹəm/
• Hyphenation: lus‧trum

  • Audio (Southern England)

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Noun

lustrum (plural lustra or lustrums)

1. (historical) A lustration: a ceremonial purification of the people of Rome performed every five years after the census. [from late 16th c.]
   • 1746 February 28, “A Treatise on the Roman Senate, in Two Parts. By Conyers Middleton, D.D. Principal Library-keeper of the University of Cambridge. Printed for R. Manby, and H. S. Cox, 1747. Octavo. 169 Pages.”, in The Museum: Or, The Literary and Historical Register, volume II, number XXV, London: Printed for R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 409:

     [A]ll theſe Magiſtrates were elected by, and from, the whole promiſcuous Body of the People in their public Aſſemblies; that after the Inſtitution of Cenſors, it was look'd upon as a Matter of Form only, that they should enroll the new Senators at the next general Luſtrum, or Survey of the Commonwealth; […]

   • 1854, Edward Greswell, “Dissertation X. On the Lustral Cycle of the Romans and on the Initia Censoria”, in Origines Kalendariæ Italicæ, Nundinal Calendars of Ancient Italy, Nundinal Calendar of Romulus, Calendar of Numa Pompilius, Calendar of the Decemvirs, Irregular Roman Calendar, and Julian Correction. Tables of the Roman Calendar, from U.C. 4 of Varro B.C. 750 to U.C. 1108 A.D. 355. [...] In Four Volumes, volume II, Oxford: At the University Press, →OCLC, chapter I, section II (On the Proper Measure of the Lustral Cycle), page 248:

     The interval of time supposed to have been denoted by the Roman Lustrum has been made the subject of controversy. No one however as far as we know has ever assumed it at less than four years or as more than five; so that the status quæstionis may so far be considered as fixed and agreed upon: and all that we have to do at present is to begin with inquiring whether the Roman Lustrum was more properly a period of five years or one of four.

2. (by extension, literary) Synonym of quinquennium: Any 5-year period.
   • 1742–1745, [Edward Young], “Night the Second. On Time, Death, Friendship. Humbly Inscrib’d to the Right Honourable the Earl of Wilmington.”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, →OCLC, page 29, lines 172–174:

     We puſh Time from us, and we wiſh Him back; / Laviſh of Luſtrums, and yet fond of Life; / Life we think long, and ſhort; Death ſeek, and ſhun; […]

   • 1835 April, Edgar Allan Poe, “Morella”, in The Southern Literary Messenger: Devoted to Every Department of Literature, and the Fine Arts, Richmond, Va.: T. W. White, →OCLC; republished in The Works of Edgar Allan Poe: In Four Volumes, volume I, New York, N.Y.: W. J. Widdleton, publisher, 1849, →OCLC, page 473:

     Thus passed away two lustra of her life, and, as yet, my daughter remained nameless upon the earth. "My child," and "my love," were the designations usually prompted by a father's affection, and the rigid seclusion of her days precluded all other intercourse. Morella's name died with her at her death. Of the mother I had never spoken to the daughter;—it was impossible to speak.

   • 1852, Adadus Calpe [pseudonym; Antonio Diodoro de Pascual], chapter XIV, in Henry Edgar, transl., The Two Fathers. An Unpublished Original Spanish Work. [...] Translated into the English Language by the Author, and Henry Edgar. Part Second: Hector Alone, New York, N.Y.: Stringer & Townsend, publishers, […]; George P[almer] Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 189:

     I am hardly, if I do not deceive myself, twenty years old, and already, dearest Rosamunda, there weigh upon my existence twenty lustrums, and of these twenty lustrums I have drunk the bitterness of intranquility even to the dregs, without having done more than touched with my lips the joy of the first days of my childhood beside you.

   • 1985, John Fowles, A Maggot, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN:

     Q. Now, sir, if you would be so kind as to guess upon his age. / A. Forty five years are certain. I would guess a lustrum more.

Synonyms

• (both senses): luster

Related terms

• luster, lustre
• lustral
• lustrate
• lustration
• lustrical
• perlustrate

 

Translations

ceremonial purification of all the people — see also lustration

• French: lustre (fr) m
• Latin: lūstrum n

Latin

Etymology 1

Per De Vaan (2008), from Proto-Indo-European *l(H)u-(s)tro- (“dirty place”), from Proto-Indo-European *le(H)w- (the same root as lutum (“mud, dirt, clay”)). Valpy (1828) proposed instead a borrowing, with change of *d to /l/, from Ancient Greek *δύστρον (*dústron), from δύω (dúō, “to plunge”).

Noun

lustrum n (genitive lustrī); second declension

1. bog, morass, place where boars and swine wallow

   Synonym: volūtābrum

2. (usually in the plural) den or lair of wild beasts; wood, forest
3. (usually in the plural) (a place of) debauchery

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lustrum	lustra
Genitive	lustrī	lustrōrum
Dative	lustrō	lustrīs
Accusative	lustrum	lustra
Ablative	lustrō	lustrīs
Vocative	lustrum	lustra

Derived terms

• lustrō

Descendants

• → Albanian: lyshtër
• English: luster (“den”)

Etymology 2

From Old Latin *loustrom, of uncertain origin, with multiple theories proposed:

• from Proto-Indo-European *lewkstrom, from *lewk- (“to make bright”) (whence lūceō),
• or from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃strom, from *lewh₃- (“to wash”) (whence lavō),
• or from Proto-Indo-European *lewHstrom, from *lewH- (“to expiate, set free”) (whence luō).

Noun

lūstrum n (genitive lūstrī); second declension

2. a purificatory sacrifice (expiatory offering) or lustration performed every five years by the censor

   Synonym: piāculum

3. a period of five years

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lūstrum	lūstra
Genitive	lūstrī	lūstrōrum
Dative	lūstrō	lūstrīs
Accusative	lūstrum	lūstra
Ablative	lūstrō	lūstrīs
Vocative	lūstrum	lūstra

Derived terms

• lūstrālis
• lūstrō

Descendants

• Catalan: lustre, llustre
• English: lustrum
• Italian: lustro
• Sicilian: allustru
• Spanish: lustro
• Portuguese: lustro

Further reading

• “lustrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lustrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lustrum 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)
• lustrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to complete the censorship (by certain formal purificatory ceremonies = lustro faciendo): lustrum condere (Liv. 1. 44. 2)
    
• “lustrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lustrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), Bern, München: Francke Verlag