levis

levis

1. past of levi

levis

1. past of levar

From Proto-Italic *leɣʷis (with possible contamination from *breɣʷis), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʰwih₂-, from *h₁léngʰus, from *h₁lengʷʰ- (“lightweight”). Cognates include Sanskrit लघु (laghú), Ancient Greek ἐλᾰφρός, ἐλᾰχῠ́ς (elăphrós, elăkhŭ́s) and Old English lēoht (English light).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈle.u̯is/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.vis/,

levis (neuter leve, comparative levior, superlative levissimus, adverb leviter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. (literally) light, not heavy
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 2.10:

     levis armaturae Numidas

     the light-armed Numidians

   Antonym: gravis

2. (transferred sense)
   1. (usually poetic) easy to digest
   2. quick, swift, fleet, nimble, rapid

      Synonyms: agilis, vēlōx, pernīx, prōmptus, properus, facilis

      Antonym: lentus

   3. (usually poetic) slight, trifling, small
      • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.180:

        levis tactus

        a slight, gentle touch

3. (figuratively)
   1. (Classical Latin) light, trivial, trifling, unimportant, inconsiderable, slight, little, petty, easy, dispensable
      • c. 54 CE, Seneca the Younger, Phaedra 607:

        Curae leues locuntur, ingentes stupent.

        Trivial concerns talk, great ones are speechless.

   2. light, light-minded, capricious, fickle, inconstant, unreliable, false

      Synonym: mendāx

   3. (rare) mild, gentle, pleasant
      • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.17–18:

        dum sedet, umbrōsae salicēs volucrēsque canōrae
        fēcērunt somnōs et leve murmur aquae

        While she sits, the shady willows, the songs of birds,
        and the gentle murmur of the water invite slumber.

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Third-declension two-termination adjective.

Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Italic *lēiwis, from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁y-u- (“smooth”) and cognate to Ancient Greek λεῖος (leîos, “smooth, plain, level, hairless, soft”), Ancient Greek λίς (lís, “smooth”).^[1] Or from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”) and cognate to Latin līmus (“mud, slime, muck”), English slime, Ancient Greek λίμνη (límnē, “marsh”).

Likely cognate to Latin oblīvīscor (“forget”).

• laevis (incorrect)

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

lēvis (neuter lēve); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. (literally, Classical Latin) smooth, not rough, smoothed, shining, rubbed

   Antonym: asper

   1. (poetic) slippery
      • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 5.328:

        levi cum sanguine Nisus labitur infelix

   2. (poetic) without hair, beardless

      Synonym: imberbis

   3. (poetic) youthful, delicate, beautiful; finely dressed, spruce, effeminate
2. (transferred sense, rare) rubbed smooth, ground down, softened, soft
3. (Classical Latin, rare) (of speech) smooth, flowing

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

• oblīvīscor

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “lĕvis”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 5: J L, page 290

• “levis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “levis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• levis 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)
• levis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a man of character, with a strong personality: vir constans, gravis (opp. homo inconstans, levis)
    
  • light infantry: milites levis armaturae
    
  • (ambiguous) men of sound opinions: homines graves (opp. leves)