lacteus

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin lac

Proto-Indo-European *-éyos

Proto-Italic *-ejos

Proto-Italic *-eos

Latin -eus

Latin lacteus

From lac (“milk”) + -eus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫak.te.ʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈlak.te.us]

Adjective

lacteus (feminine lactea, neuter lacteum); first/second-declension adjective

1. milky (of or pertaining to milk)
2. (poetic) full of milk
3. milk-drinking; suckling

   Synonym: lactāris

4. milk-white

   Synonyms: lacteolus, lacticolor

   Near-synonyms: albus, candidus

5. (figuratively) pure

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular		plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	lacteus	lactea	lacteum	lacteī	lacteae	lactea
genitive	lacteī	lacteae	lacteī	lacteōrum	lacteārum	lacteōrum
dative	lacteō	lacteae	lacteō	lacteīs
accusative	lacteum	lacteam	lacteum	lacteōs	lacteās	lactea
ablative	lacteō	lacteā	lacteō	lacteīs
vocative	lactee	lactea	lacteum	lacteī	lacteae	lactea

Derived terms

• Circulus Lacteus
• Via Lactea

Related terms

• lac
• lactāneus
• lactāris
• lactārius
• lactātum
• lacteō
• lacteolus
• lactēscō
• lacticīnium
• lactifer
• lactineus
• lactō
• lactoris
• lactūca
• lactūcārius

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: lazzo
• Gallo-Romance:
  • ⇒ Old French:
    • Lorrain: lasson
    • Norman: laceron
      • → French: laceron
    • Picard: lasseron
• Borrowings:
  • → Catalan: lacti
  • → French: lacté
  • → Italian: latteo
  • → Portuguese: lácteo
  • → Spanish: lácteo

References

• “lacteus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lacteus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lacteus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the milky way: orbis lacteus