lacuna
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English
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin lacūna (“a ditch, pit; a hollow, cavity; a gap, defect”). Doublet of lacune and lagoon.
Pronunciation
Noun
lacuna (plural lacunae or (obsolete) lacunæ or lacunas)
- (particularly anatomy) A small opening; a small pit or depression, especially in bone.
- Coordinate term: fovea
- (microscopy) A space visible between cells, allowing free passage of light.
- A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World , London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- "Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunæ by some measure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger.
- An absent part, especially in a book or other piece of writing, often referring to an ancient manuscript or similar.
- Long lacunae in this inscription make interpretation difficult.
- (figurative) Any gap, break, hole, or lack in a set of things; something missing.
- 2008 March 23, Elizabeth Day, “The great French love affair with la vie anglaise”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
- For Beatrice Nutter, there will always be conspicuous lacunae in our mutual understanding, but after almost 30 years here, the anomalies now delight rather than confound her.
- 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, volume 41, number 7, , page 577:
- If the researcher cannot adequately hear a specific conversation due to its low volume or other acoustic interference, then this data point can be passed over with the understanding that such lacunae will be randomly distributed over the data collecting period.
- (linguistics, translation studies) A language gap, which occurs when there is no direct translation in the target language for a lexical term found in the source language.
- Synonym: anisomorphism
- Hyponyms: accidental gap, lexical gap
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
opening, pit, depression
space between cells
absent part in a book
language gap
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Further reading
- “lacuna”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “lacuna”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Anagrams
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin lacūna. Compare the inherited doublet laguna.
Pronunciation
Noun
lacuna f (plural lacune)
Derived terms
Further reading
- lacuna in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Anagrams
Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
According to Alfred Ernout and Antoine Meillet, from the feminine substantivation of an unattested adjectival form *lacūnus (pertaining to a lake, cistern), itself from lacus (“a lake, pond; a basin, tank, cistern”) + -nus (see -īnus). For the u-stem-appended -nus adjectival suffix compare opportūnus and importūnus, from portus. For its substantivation, probably from the clipping of the set-phrase "lacuna aqua" (cistern water), compare urīna with the same development.
Pronunciation
Noun
lacūna f (genitive lacūnae); first declension
- (literal, chiefly poetic) a hole, pit, ditch; (especially) a pool, pond
- (figurative, rare, Classical Latin) a gap, void, defect, want, loss
- c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 1.3.23:
- , minimaque illa labes et quasi lacuna famae munimentis partarum amico utilitatium solidatur.
- and this unimportant fault, a simple defect of good reputation is repaid (made firm again) by the excuse of new-found circumstances to help a friend.
- , minimaque illa labes et quasi lacuna famae munimentis partarum amico utilitatium solidatur.
Inflection
First-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | lacūna | lacūnae |
| Genitive | lacūnae | lacūnārum |
| Dative | lacūnae | lacūnīs |
| Accusative | lacūnam | lacūnās |
| Ablative | lacūnā | lacūnīs |
| Vocative | lacūna | lacūnae |
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
Descendants of lacūna in other languages
References
- ^ Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “lacus”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, page 337
- “lacuna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “lacuna”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- lacuna 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)
- lacuna in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “lacuna”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- lacuna in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
Portuguese
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin lacūna. Compare the inherited lagoa and laguna.
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: la‧cu‧na
Noun
lacuna f (plural lacunas)
Related terms
References
- ^ “lacuna” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
- ^ “lacuna” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.
Romanian
Pronunciation
Noun
lacuna f