letum

Latin

Alternative forms

• lēthum

Etymology

Proposed derivations include:

• Proto-Indo-European *ley- (“to flow”) (cognate with lītus).
• Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (cognate with λύω (lúō)).
• Proto-Indo-European *leh₁- (“to let, leave”) (cognate with Hittite (laizzi, “lets”))

Compare also Latin dēleō and linō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈleː.tum/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.tum/,

Noun

lētum n (genitive lētī); second declension

1. violent death, annihilation, killing

   Synonyms: nex, homicīdium, occīsiō, excidium, iugulum, occīdiō

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.465–466:

     Crassus ad Euphrāten aquilās nātumque suōsque
     perdidit et lētō est ultimus ipse datus.

     Crassus, at the Euphrates, lost his eagles, his son, and his , and was himself finally given to death.
     (See: Marcus Licinius Crassus; Euphrates; Aquila (Roman).)

2. ruin

   Synonyms: dēstrūctiō, excidium, ruīna, dēmōlītiō, vāstātiō, pestis, devāstātiō, perniciēs, perditiō, exitium

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Derived terms

• lētālis
• lētifer

References

• “letum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “letum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• letum 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)
• letum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.