lacerta

See also: Lacerta

Interlingua

Noun

lacerta (plural lacertas)

1. lizard

Latin

lacerta (lizard)

Alternative forms

• lacertus

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps connected to Ancient Greek λικερτίζειν (likertízein, “to spring, dance”) or to Latin lacertum (“upper arm”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /laˈker.ta/, [ɫ̪äˈkɛrt̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /laˈt͡ʃer.ta/, [läˈt͡ʃɛrt̪ä]

Noun

lacerta f (genitive lacertae); first declension

1. lizard

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lacerta	lacertae
Genitive	lacertae	lacertārum
Dative	lacertae	lacertīs
Accusative	lacertam	lacertās
Ablative	lacertā	lacertīs
Vocative	lacerta	lacertae

Derived terms

• lacertilia

Descendants

• From lacerta:
  • Asturian: llacierta
  • Franco-Provençal: lenzèrda
  • Friulian: lisierte
  • Lombard: lüserta
  • Neapolitan: lacerta
  • Norman: lêzarde (Jersey)
  • Old French: laisarde
  • Piedmontese: lazerta
  • Sicilian: lucerta
  • Venetian: luxèrta, uxèrta, lisarda, rixarda
• from *lacertula:
  • Italian: lucertola
  • >? Sicilian: lucèrtula, gièrdula
  • Venetian: łuxèrtoła, oxèrtola
• From the masculine variant lacertus:
  • Catalan: lluert
  • Old French: lesard
    • French: lézard
    • → Middle English: lesarde, lesard, leesarde, lisard, lisarde, lysard, lysarde, lyzard, lizard, lizarde; lacert, lacerta
      • English: lizard (← lizard)
      • Scots: lesart (obsolete)
  • Italian: lacerto
• Vulgar Latin: *lacartum
  • Asturian: llagartu
  • Catalan: llagart
  • Galician: lagarto
  • Portuguese: lagarto
  • Spanish: lagarto
• from *lacarta:
  • Asturian: llagarta, llagartesa
  • Portuguese: lagarta
• >? Dalmatian: lačas m, lačar f
• >? Sardinian: lugesti, lucesti, lugestra, luxeta, calaxerta, caluxerta
• borrowings:
  • Translingual: Lacerta, Lacertidae, Lacertilia
  • Esperanto: lacerto
  • Irish: laghairt
  • Scottish Gaelic: laghairt/f

References

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

Middle English

Noun

lacerta

1. Alternative form of lesarde