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litus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
litus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
litus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
litus you have here. The definition of the word
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Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *ley- (“to flow”), whence perhaps Lithuania. De Vaan is unconvinced, and prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *leyt-os- (“going”) (with sense development "going away" > "end, side" > "seashore, coast"), from *leyt- (“to go, depart”), whence Tocharian B litā- (“to pass on”), Avestan 𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬚𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬌𐬙𐬌 (iriθiieiti, “to die, pass away”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌽 (galeiþan, “to depart, go forth”).
Pronunciation
Noun
lītus n (genitive lītoris); third declension
- strand, shore, beach
29 BCE – 19 BCE,
Virgil,
Aeneid 2.27:
- ... juvat ire et Dorica castra desertosque videre locos litusque relictum.
- ... it was a delight to walk through the Doric camp and to see the deserted places and the abandoned shore.
Usage notes
N.B. The difference between ora and litus is that ora denotes a coast simply as a border, whereas litus refers exclusively to the sea-coast.
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
Derived terms
Descendants
See also
References
- “litus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “litus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- litus 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)
- litus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to be stranded: in litus eici (B. G. 5. 10)
- to land (of people): appellere navem (ad terram, litus)
- to keep the coast and harbours in a state of blockade: litora ac portus custodia clausos tenere
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 346