laevus
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *leh₂iwos (“left (side)”). Cognates include Ancient Greek λαιός (laiós, “left, awkward”), Old Church Slavonic лѣвъ (lěvŭ, “left”), and Tocharian B laiwo (“lassitude”).[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈɫae̯.wʊs]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈlɛː.vus]
Adjective
laevus (feminine laeva, neuter laevum); first/second-declension adjective
- left; on the left side
- c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 4:
- et inde tot per impotentia freta
erum tulisse (laeva sīve dextera
vocāret aura, sīve utrumque Iuppiter
simul secundus incidisset in pedem)- and thence through so many unruly seas
it carried its master, whether a left or a right breeze
would call, or a favorable wind (Jupiter) fell
on each sheet at the same time
- and thence through so many unruly seas
- et inde tot per impotentia freta
- (figuratively) clumsy, awkward
- (figuratively) foolish
- unlucky
Declension
First/second-declension adjective.
| singular | plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| nominative | laevus | laeva | laevum | laevī | laevae | laeva | |
| genitive | laevī | laevae | laevī | laevōrum | laevārum | laevōrum | |
| dative | laevō | laevae | laevō | laevīs | |||
| accusative | laevum | laevam | laevum | laevōs | laevās | laeva | |
| ablative | laevō | laevā | laevō | laevīs | |||
| vocative | laeve | laeva | laevum | laevī | laevae | laeva | |
Related terms
Descendants
See also
References
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “laevus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 323
Further reading
- “laevus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “laevus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- laevus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.