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From Proto-Indo-European*udr-eh₂,[n 1] the feminine noun of *udrós(“sea animal, otter”, literally “of water”).[n 2][1][2][3] The l- was likely introduced by analogy of some other word, such as lavō(“to wash”), lūdō(“to play”), lupus(“wolf”)[3] or lutum(“mud, dirt”).[2][4] See § descendants notes for information on the Varro for with -y- and the medieval forms.
Eāsdem partēs sibi ipsī Ponticī amputant fibrī perīculō urgente, ob hoc sē petī gnārī; castoreum id vocant medicī. Aliās animal horrendī morsūs arborēs iuxtā flūmina ut ferrō caedit, hominis parte conprehēnsā nōn ante quam frācta concrepuerint ossa morsūs resolvit. Cauda piscium hīs, cētera speciēs lutrae. Utrumque aquāticum, utrīque mollior plūmā pilus.
Pontic beavers cut off their same parts in urgent danger, on account of which they are known to be hunted; doctors call this castor. Other times, the animal with an awesome bite fells trees near rivers as if with iron, they don't let go of their bites when a part of a human is caught until the bones crack broken. These have a fish's tail, the rest of the appearance is of an otter. Both aquatic, the hair of both softer than fluff.
The initial consonant oscillates from l-, *n- to *∅-, a very common oscillation in Romance, as l- and n- are easily rebracketable as the definite and indefinite article respectively. The n- was most likely introduced by influence of the Ancient Greek cognate ἔνυδρις(énudris, “otter”).[4][2] The absence of any initial consonant, found solely in Italo-Romance, could be analisable as crossing with an unattested pre-classical Latin form or of the pre-Roman Italic substrate, as the l- is unetymological in Latin (see etymology).
The form *luntra gets its nasal likely by metathesis and dissimilation of the initial *n- explained above, presumably through a form *nuntra.[4][5]
The first vowel is in many Italo-Romance lects fronted to *-i-, again most likely under the influence of the Ancient Greekἔνυδρις(énudris).[4][2] The form lytra, attested already in Varro, might reflect this.
The ending in many lects, and as already attested in Medieval Latin, is altered to *-ia, again under the influence of Ancient Greekἔνυδρις, -ιος(énudris, -ios).[4][5]
The Gallo-Romance form *luttra retains its voiceless /t/ under the influence of its Frankish cognate *otr(“otter”).[4] Spanish and Aragonese forms also irregularly retain a voiceless /t/, though this is generally explained as influence of Mozarabic or of some southern Italian lect.[5]
↑ 3.03.1De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “lutra”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 355
“lūtra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
lutra 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)
lutra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Traina, Antonino (1868) “lutra”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, page 2310
Pasqualino (c.1790) “lutra”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 3, page 65
