lacuna

English

WOTD – 30 July 2008

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin lacūna (“a ditch, pit; a hollow, cavity; a gap, defect”), from lacus (“a lake, pond; a basin, tank, cistern”). Doublet of lacune and lagoon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ləˈk(j)uː.nə/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

    ,

    Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uːnə

Noun

lacuna (plural lacunae or (obsolete) lacunæ or lacunas)

1. (particularly anatomy) A small opening; a small pit or depression, especially in bone.
   1. (microscopy) A space visible between cells, allowing free passage of light.
2. A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World‎^[1]:

     "Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunæ by some measure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger.

   1. An absent part, especially in a book or other piece of writing, often referring to an ancient manuscript or similar.

      Long lacunae in this inscription make interpretation difficult.

   2. Any gap, break, hole, or lack in a set of things; something missing.
      • 2019, Huang, Li; James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, volume 41, number 7, DOI:10.1080/01434632.2019.1596115, page 577:

        If the researcher cannot adequately hear a specific conversation due to its low volume or other acoustic interference, then this data point can be passed over with the understanding that such lacunae will be randomly distributed over the data collecting period.

   3. (translation studies) A language gap, which occurs when there is no direct translation in the target language for a lexical term found in the source language.

      Synonym: anisomorphism

Synonyms

• gap
• hiatus

Derived terms

• lacunal
• lacunar
• lacunary
• lacunate
• lacunose

 

Translations

opening, pit, depression

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腔隙 (zh) (qiāngxì)

• Finnish: aukko (fi) (same word for small and large openings)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kelên (ku) f

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lakune m

  Nynorsk: lakune m or f

• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

space between cells

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腔隙 (zh) (qiāngxì)

• Finnish: lakuuni
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

absent part in a book

• Bulgarian: пропуск (bg) (propusk) ((в текст))
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: lacune (nl) f
• Finnish: aukko (fi)
• Greek: κενό (el) n (kenó), χάσμα (el) n (chásma)

• Latin: lacūna (la) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lakune m

  Nynorsk: lakune m or f

• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: lakun (sv) c

language gap

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: taalhiaat n
• Finnish: leksikaalinen aukko
• German: lexikalische Lücke f

• Greek: κενό (el) n (kenó)
• Occitan: lacuna lexicala f
• Spanish: vacío léxico m, laguna léxica f
• Swedish: lexikal lucka c

References

• “lacuna”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “lacuna”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.

Anagrams

• canula

---

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lacūna. Compare the inherited doublet laguna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laˈku.na/
• Rhymes: -una
• Hyphenation: la‧cù‧na

Noun

lacuna f (plural lacune)

1. gap
2. blank (space)
3. lapse (of memory)

Derived terms

• cunetta

Further reading

• lacuna in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• alcuna, lucana

---

Latin

Alternative forms

• lucūna

Etymology

From lacus (“a lake, pond; a basin, tank, cistern”).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /laˈkuː.na/, [ɫ̪äˈkuːnä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /laˈku.na/, [läˈkuːnä]

Noun

lacūna f (genitive lacūnae); first declension

1. (literally, chiefly poetic) a hole, pit, ditch; (especially) a pool, pond
   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgicon 1.117:

      […], unde cavae tepido sudant umore lacunae.

   1. (generally) an opening, cavity, hollow, cleft, chasm
      • c. 15 BCE, Vitruvius, De architectura 7.1.4:

         […], ut ne habeant lacunas nec extantes tumulos, […]

2. (figuratively, rare, Classical Latin) a gap, void, defect, want, loss
   • c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 1.3.23:

      […], minimaque illa labes et quasi lacuna famae munimentis partarum amico utilitatium solidatur.

Inflection

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lacūna	lacūnae
Genitive	lacūnae	lacūnārum
Dative	lacūnae	lacūnīs
Accusative	lacūnam	lacūnās
Ablative	lacūnā	lacūnīs
Vocative	lacūna	lacūnae

Synonyms

• lacūnātūra

Derived terms

• lacūnar, lacūnarium
• lacūnārius
• lacūnō
• lacūnōsus

Related terms

• lacūnātūra

Descendants

Descendants of lacūna in other languages

• Asturian: llaguna
• Catalan: llacuna
• → English: lacuna
• → French: lacune
  • → English: lacune
  • → Romanian: lacună
• Galician: lagoa
• Italian: laguna
  • → French: lagune
    • → Danish: lagune
    • → Dutch: lagune
    • → English: lagoon
  • → Portuguese: laguna
  • → Romanian: lagună
• → Italian: lacuna
• Occitan: lòna, lagua, laguna
• Portuguese: lagoa, → lacuna
• → Russian: лакуна (lakuna)
• Spanish: laguna
• Venetian: łaguna

References

• lacuna in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• lacuna in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lacuna 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)
• lacuna in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• lacuna in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lacuna in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

---

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lacūna. Compare the inherited lagoa and laguna.

Noun

lacuna f (plural lacunas)

1. hiatus (gap in a series)

   Synonym: hiato

2. blank (space to be filled in)

Related terms

• lagoa

---

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [laˈkuna]

Noun

lacuna f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of lacună