salax

Latin

Etymology

From saliō (“I leap, jump”) +‎ -āx (“inclined to”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.laːks/, [ˈs̠äɫ̪äːks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.laks/, [ˈsäːläks]

Adjective

salāx (genitive salācis); third-declension one-termination adjective

1. (especially of male animals) prone to leaping
2. salacious, lustful, lecherous, lascivious
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.771–772:

     ‘sitque salāx ariēs, conceptaque sēmina coniūnx
     reddat, et in stabulō multa sit agna meō.’

     ‘‘And may the ram be lustful, and may his mate return the seeds having been received,
     and in my stable may there be many a lamb.’’
     (A shepherd’s prayer to Pales.)

3. lust-provoking, provocative

Declension

Third-declension one-termination adjective.

Number	Singular			Plural
Case / Gender	Masc./Fem.	Neuter		Masc./Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	salāx			salācēs	salācia
Genitive	salācis			salācium
Dative	salācī			salācibus
Accusative	salācem	salāx		salācēs	salācia
Ablative	salācī			salācibus
Vocative	salāx			salācēs	salācia

Derived terms

• salācitās
• saliō

Descendants

• →⇒ English: salacious
• → French: salace
• → Italian: salace
• → Portuguese: salaz
• → Spanish: salaz

References

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