lactis

Latin

Etymology

From Classical lac n, from earlier lact, reformed based on the oblique stem lact-. Uncertain etymology; see lac (“milk”). The accusative lactem is attested as early as Petronius (where it is a satirized 'vulgar' form), and the nominative lactis is found in late antiquity.

Pronunciation

• lactis:
  • (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫak.tɪs]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈlak.tis]
• lactīs:
  • (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫak.tiːs]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈlak.tis]

Noun

lactis m or f (genitive lactis); third declension (Late Latin)

1. milk

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	lactis	lactēs
genitive	lactis	lactium
dative	lactī	lactibus
accusative	lactem	lactēs lactīs
ablative	lacte	lactibus
vocative	lactis	lactēs

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: lapti n, lapte
  • Istro-Romanian: låpte
  • Megleno-Romanian: lapti n
  • Romanian: lapte n
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: latte m
  • Neapolitan: latte
  • Sicilian: latti
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: latte m, latti (Campidanese)
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: lât
    • Old Ligurian: laite
      • Ligurian: læte m
    • Old Lombard: lag
      • Lombard: lait
    • Old Piedmontese: lait, lag
      • Piedmontese: làit m, lacc
    • Romagnol: lat
  • Friulian: lat m
  • Romansh: latg m, lat
  • Venetan: lat, late f
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: lat
  • Old French: lait m (see there for further descendants)
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Occitan: lach m, lait
  • Catalan: llet f
  • Aragonese: leit
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Leonese:
    • Asturian: lleche f or m, llechi (pronunciation spelling, nonstandard), lleite, ḷḷeite, ḷḷeitse (Southwestern), lleiche, lleichi, ḷḷeiche (Western)
    • Extremaduran: lechi
    • Leonese: lleite, lleche, lleiche
    • Mirandese: lheite m
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: leite m
    • Galician: leite m
    • Portuguese: leite m (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: leche
    • Ladino: leche f
    • Spanish: leche f (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Old Irish: lacht (see there for further descendants)
  • → Proto-Brythonic: *llaɨθ (see there for further descendants)

Noun

lactis n

1. genitive singular of lac, lact, and lacte

Noun

lactīs f pl

1. accusative plural of lactēs

Further reading

• “lactis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "lactis", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “lactis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang (2008–), “*/ˈlakt-e/ s.n.”, in Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman, Nancy: Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française, retrieved 5 October 2023.