largus
Latin
Etymology
Unknown. Often connected with Proto-Indo-European *leh₂y- (“lard, fat, grease”) (see lārdum, lāridum (“bacon”) and laetus (“fat, happy”)), via Proto-Italic *lajes-ago-, though de Vaan finds this problematic and doubts that the long vowel is original.[1] Compare also Ancient Greek λᾱρῑνός (lārīnós, “fattened; fatty”), with -r- as in Latin perhaps coming from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂-r-; this could further be a different suffixed form of the same Proto-Indo-European *leh₂- (“to fatten; fat”) whence *leh₂-y-, notwithstanding some phonetic and morphological difficulties. These roots are however disputed and more likely reflect Mediterranean substrate words or Wanderwörter, while Latin lāridum is thought to be a borrowing from Ancient Greek.
Also may be connected to lascīvus, from Proto-Indo-European *las- (“to be willing, covetous”), if such a root exists, but the semantics are suspicious as well as the *a.
Prósper, presuming a sound law in which *d became *l before *a, derives largus from Proto-Indo-European *dl̥h₁gʰós via a sequence of either *dlāɣos > *dālɣos (with metathesis) > *lālɣos > *lalgos > largus (with dissimilation), or alternatively *dalaɣos > *lalaɣos > *lalɣos (with syncope) > *lalgos > largus.[2] (Note that these lambdacisms can alternatively be viewed as assimilation to the internal *l even if the sound law is not accepted.)
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈɫar.ɡʊs]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈlar.ɡus]
Adjective
largus (feminine larga, neuter largum, comparative largior, superlative largissimus, adverb largē or largiter); first/second-declension adjective
- abundant, copious, plentiful, large, abounding in something
- bountiful, liberal, munificent
- (with ablative or genitive) generous with, lavish of
Declension
First/second-declension adjective.
| singular | plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| nominative | largus | larga | largum | largī | largae | larga | |
| genitive | largī | largae | largī | largōrum | largārum | largōrum | |
| dative | largō | largae | largō | largīs | |||
| accusative | largum | largam | largum | largōs | largās | larga | |
| ablative | largō | largā | largō | largīs | |||
| vocative | large | larga | largum | largī | largae | larga | |
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “lārgus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 327
- ^ Prósper, Blanca María (2019), “What became of “Sabine l”? An Overlooked Proto-Italic Sound Law”, in The Journal of Indo-European Studies, volume 47, number 3 & 4, pages 483-484
- “largus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “largus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- "largus", 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)
- “largus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “largus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 654