lactuca

See also: Lactuca

Latin

lactuca

Etymology

From lac (“milk”) +‎ -ūcus (suffix common to several plant names), in reference to the milky white substance (latex) exuded by cut lettuce stems.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /lakˈtuː.ka/, [ɫ̪äkˈt̪uːkä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /lakˈtu.ka/, [läkˈt̪uːkä]

Noun

lactūca f (genitive lactūcae); first declension

1. lettuce (Lactuca sativa), wolf's milk (Lactuca maritima), and other Lactuca species

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lactūca	lactūcae
genitive	lactūcae	lactūcārum
dative	lactūcae	lactūcīs
accusative	lactūcam	lactūcās
ablative	lactūcā	lactūcīs
vocative	lactūca	lactūcae

Related terms

• lac
• lactāneus
• lactāris
• lactārius
• lactātum
• lacteō
• lacteolus
• lactēscō
• lacteus
• lacticīnium
• lactifer
• lactīneus
• lactō
• lactōris
• lactūcārius

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: lãptucã
  • Romanian: lăptucă (with lapatica from lapathum and lappa)
• Dalmatian:
  • -
    • → Proto-Slavic: *loťika (see there for further descendants)
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: lattuga
  • Sicilian: lattuca
• Padanian:
  • Emilian: laciuga
  • Friulian: latuie
  • Ligurian: leitûga
  • Lombard: laciuga
  • Piedmontese: laitùa
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: lètua, lèitua, lètuva, lèituva
  • Old French: laitue
    • French: laitue
    • Norman: laitue (Jersey)
    • → Middle Dutch: latuwe
      • Dutch: latuw, lattouwe
    • → Middle English: letuse, letus, letys, letuce, letuze, letes, letows, letyse
      • English: lettuce
      • Scots: lettuce, lattice
      • → Welsh: letys
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: lletuga, lletruga, lletua

    Septentrional: lleituga

  • Occitan:

    Auvergnat: laituja

    Gascon: lèituga

    Languedocien: laituga, lachuga

    Limousin: laituja

    Provençal: lachuga

    Vivaro-Alpine: lachua

• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: llechuga; lleituga (Occidental)
  • Galician: leituga
  • Leonese: lleituga
  • Portuguese: leituga
  • Spanish: lechuga
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: lattuca, làtua, làtia, latuca
• Borrowings:
  • → Proto-West Germanic: *lahtukā (see there for further descendants)

References

• “lactuca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lactuca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lactuca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “lactuca”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray