lactis

Latin

Etymology 1

From Classical lac n, from earlier lact, reformed based on the oblique stem lact-. Uncertain etymology; see lac (“milk”). The accusative lactem is attested as early as Petronius (where it is a satirized 'vulgar' form), and the nominative lactis is found in late antiquity.

Noun

lactis m or f (genitive lactis); third declension (Late Latin)

1. milk

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lactis	lactēs
Genitive	lactis	lactium
Dative	lactī	lactibus
Accusative	lactem	lactēs lactīs
Ablative	lacte	lactibus
Vocative	lactis	lactēs

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: lapti n, lapte
  • Romanian: lapte n
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: latte m
  • Neapolitan: latte
  • Sicilian: latti
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: latte m, latti
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Old Ligurian: laite
      • Ligurian: læte m
    • Old Lombard: lag
      • Lombard: lait
    • Old Piedmontese: lait, lag
      • Piedmontese: làit m, lacc
  • Friulian: lat m
  • Romansch: latg m, lat
  • Venetian: lat, late f
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: llet f
  • Franco-Provençal: lat
  • Old French: lait m (see there for further descendants)
  • Occitan: lach m, lait
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: lei
  • Old Leonese: [Term?]
    • Asturian: lleche f or m
    • Extremaduran: lechi
    • Leonese: lleite, lleche, lleiche
    • Mirandese: lheite m
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: leite m
    • Galician: leite m
    • Portuguese: leite m (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: leche
    • Ladino: leche f
    • Spanish: leche f (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Old Irish: lacht (see there for further descendants)
  • → Proto-Brythonic: *llaɨθ (see there for further descendants)

Etymology 2

Noun

lactis

1. genitive singular of lac

References

• “lactis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• lactis 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)
• lactis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Buchi, Éva, Schweickard, Wolfgang (2008–) “*/ˈlakt-e/ s.n.”, in Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman, Nancy: Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française, retrieved 5 October 2023.