litus

Latin edit

Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *ley- (“to flow”), whence perhaps Lithuania. De Vaan is unconvinced, and prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *leyt-os- (“going”) (with sense development "going away" > "end, side" > "seashore, coast"), from *leyt- (“to go, depart”), whence Tocharian B litā- (“to pass on”), Avestan 𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬚𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬌𐬙𐬌 (ⁱriθiieⁱti, “to die, pass away”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌽 (galeiþan, “to depart, go forth”).^[1]

lītus n (genitive lītoris); third declension

strand, shore, beach
- 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.27:
  ... juvat ire et Dorica castra desertosque videre locos litusque relictum.
  ... it was a delight to walk through the Doric camp and to see the deserted places and the abandoned shore.

N.B. The difference between ora and litus is that ora denotes a coast simply as a border, whereas litus refers exclusively to the sea-coast.

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

“litus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“litus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
litus 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)
litus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to be stranded: in litus eici (B. G. 5. 10)
- to land (of people): appellere navem (ad terram, litus)
- to keep the coast and harbours in a state of blockade: litora ac portus custodia clausos tenere

^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 346