Lucina

See also: lucina and lučina

English

Etymology

From Middle English Lucina and Lucyna, from Latin Lūcīna.

Proper noun

Lucina

1. An epithet of the Roman goddess Juno or (less often) Diana in the role of goddess of childbirth, midwives, and newborns.
   • 2005, Patricia Montley, chapter IL, in In Nature's Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth‎^[1], page 5:

     Lucina, the Sabine goddess of light, was combined with the Roman Juno, and as Juno Lucina, goddess of childbirth, she brought children into the world.

2. A separate goddess of those fields, a daughter of Jupiter and Juno and counterpart to the Greek Eileithyia.
   • 2008, Laurie Sue Brockway, chapter IL, in The Goddess Pages: A Divine Guide to Finding Love and Happiness‎^[2], page 184:

     Many believe the genesis of saint Lucy can be found in the mythology of two roman deities: Lucina, goddess of birth and light, who merged with the mother goddess Juno.

   • 2014, Alison Findlay, birth, entry in Women in Shakespeare: A Dictionary, unnumbered page,

     He^[Pericles] can only pray to Lucina, goddess of childbirth and 'gentle midwife/ To those that cry at night' to speed Thaisa's delivery (Per. 3.1.10–14), and has not even time to commit her body to the sea during the storm.

3. (astronomy) 146 Lucina, a Main Belt asteroid.
4. (rare) A female given name from Latin.

Derived terms

• Juno Lucina

Translations

Roman goddess of childbirth

• Armenian: Լուցինա (hy) (Lucʻina)
• French: Lucine (fr) f
• Italian: Lucina (it) f
• Japanese: ルーキーナ (Rūkīna)
• Latin: Lūcīna f
• Russian: Луцина f (Lucina)
• Ukrainian: Люцина f (Ljucyna)

Anagrams

• Alcuin, Lucian, uncial

Latin

Etymology

Feminine of *lucīnus, from lūx (“light”) +‎ -īnus (“-ine: forming adjectives”), sometimes related to the phases of the moon or understood to intend "One who Brings into the Light".

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /luːˈkiː.na/, [ɫ̪uːˈkiːnä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /luˈt͡ʃi.na/, [luˈt͡ʃiːnä]

Proper noun

Lūcīna f sg (genitive Lūcīnae); first declension

1. Lucina, an epithet of the Roman goddesses Juno or Diana in their role as goddess of childbirth, midwives, and newborns.
2. Lucina, a Roman goddess of childbirth, midwives, and newborns, daughter of Jupiter and Juno.
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.451–452:

     parce, precor, gravidīs, facilis Lūcīnā, puellīs
     mātūrumque uterō molliter aufer onus.

     Spare, I pray – by [you it is] easily done, Lucina – the pregnant girls,
     and gently withdraw the ripened burden from the womb.

3. (New Latin, astronomy) Lucina, a Main Belt asteroid.

Declension

First-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Lūcīna
Genitive	Lūcīnae
Dative	Lūcīnae
Accusative	Lūcīnam
Ablative	Lūcīnā
Vocative	Lūcīna

Derived terms

• Iūnō Lūcīna

 

References

• “Lucina”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Lucina in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Proper noun

Lucina

1. Alternative form of Lucyna.

References

• “Lucina, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 June 2018.