lectus

Latin

Etymology 1

Perfect passive participle of legō (pick out, select), with long ē from Lachmann's law.[1]

Pronunciation

Participle

lēctus (feminine lēcta, neuter lēctum, comparative lēctior, superlative lēctissimus); first/second-declension participle

  1. chosen; picked; having been selected
    • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.441:
      Plūrima lēcta rosa est, sunt et sine nōmine flōrēs.
      They picked many a rose, and flowers without a name.
      (Ovid describes the luxuriant field where Persephone and her attendants picked flowers.)
  2. choice; excellent
  3. read; having been read (silently)
  4. recited; having been recited; having been read out loud
Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

singular plural
masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
nominative lēctus lēcta lēctum lēctī lēctae lēcta
genitive lēctī lēctae lēctī lēctōrum lēctārum lēctōrum
dative lēctō lēctae lēctō lēctīs
accusative lēctum lēctam lēctum lēctōs lēctās lēcta
ablative lēctō lēctā lēctō lēctīs
vocative lēcte lēcta lēctum lēctī lēctae lēcta
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Catalan: llit
  • French: lit
  • Friulian: let
  • Istriot: lito
  • Italian: letto
  • Sicilian: lettu
  • Spanish: lecho

Etymology 2

    Inherited from Proto-Italic *lektos (lain upon), past participle of *leɣō (to lie down), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (to lie). Related to Ancient Greek λέχος (lékhos).[2] Via PIE cognate with Russian лежа́к (ležák), лежа́нка (ležánka).

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    lectus m (genitive lectī); second declension

    1. (countable) bed (a piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep)
      Synonyms: cama, cubīle, strātum, torus
      Hyponym: grabatus
      Puerī sub lectō suntThe boys are under the bed.
      • c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, Metamorphoses 2.32:
        mēque statim [] lectō simul et somnō trādidī.
        And immediately I gave myself simultaneously to both bed and sleep.
    2. couch; sofa
      Synonyms: cubīle, pulvinar, strātum, torus
    Declension

    Second-declension noun.

    Derived terms
    Descendants

    References

    • lectus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • lectus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "lectus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • lectus”, 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 confined to one's bed: lecto teneri
      • to rise from one's bed, get up: e lecto or e cubīli surgere
    • lectus”, in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia[2]
    • lectus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • lectus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
    1. ^ 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 333
    2. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “lectus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 332