lucus

Latin

Etymology

From Old Latin loucos, from Proto-Italic *loukos, from Proto-Indo-European *lowk-ó-s (“open space, clearing”), which is derived from the root *lewk- (“bright”). Cognates include Proto-Germanic *lauhaz (“clearing”), Sanskrit लोक (loka, “free space, world”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.kus/, [ˈɫ̪uːkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlu.kus/, [ˈluːkus]

Noun

lūcus m (genitive lūcī); second declension

1. A grove sacred to a deity
2. (poetic) a wood

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lūcus	lūcī
Genitive	lūcī	lūcōrum
Dative	lūcō	lūcīs
Accusative	lūcum	lūcōs
Ablative	lūcō	lūcīs
Vocative	lūce	lūcī

Derived terms

• lūcar

Descendants

• Catalan: Lluc (toponym)
• Corsican: lucu
• Gascon: luc, luga
• Old French: luz (Champagne)
• Old Galician-Portuguese: Lugo (toponym)
  • Galician: Lugo
  • Portuguese: Lugo
• Sardinian: luo (Barbagia)
• → Basque: luku
• → Italian: luco

References

• “lucus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lucus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lucus 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)
• lucus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) in full daylight: luce (luci)
    
• “lucus”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• Lewis & Short A Latin Dictionary
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “lūcus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 5: J L, page 441