lacuna

English

WOTD – 30 July 2008

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lacūna (“ditch, gap”), diminutive form of lacus (“lake”). Doublet of lagoon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ləˈkjuː.nə/
• IPA^(key): /ləˈkuː.nə/, /ləˈkjuː.nə/

• Audio (US):

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  Audio (US):

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Noun

lacuna (plural lacunae or lacunas)

1. A small opening; a small pit or depression
2. a small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.
3. An absent part, especially in a book or other piece of writing, often referring to an ancient manuscript or similar.

   Long lacunae in this inscription make interpretation difficult.

4. (microscopy) A space visible between cells, allowing free passage of light.
5. (translation studies) A language gap, which occurs when there is no direct translation in the target language for a lexical term found in the source language.

Synonyms

• hiatus
• gap
• (translation studies): anisomorphism

Derived terms

• lacunal
• lacunar
• lacunary
• lacunose

Translations

small opening

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: aukko (fi) (same word for small and large openings)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lakune m

  Nynorsk: lakune m or f

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

absent part

• Bulgarian: пропуск (bg) (propusk) ((в текст))
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: aukko (fi)
• Greek: κενό (el) n (kenó), χάσμα (el) n (chásma)
• Latin: lacūna (la) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lakune m

  Nynorsk: lakune m or f

• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

in microscopy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: lakuuni
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

in linguistics

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: leksikaalinen aukko
• German: lexikalische Lücke f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: κενό (el) n (kenó)
• Occitan: lacuna lexicala f
• Spanish: vacío léxico m, laguna léxica f
• Swedish: lexikal lucka c

Anagrams

• canula

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lacuna. Compare the inherited doublet laguna.

Pronunciation

• lacùna
• IPA^(key): /laˈkuna/
• Rhymes: -una

Noun

lacuna f (plural lacune)

1. gap
2. blank (space)
3. lapse (of memory)

Anagrams

• alcuna
• lucana

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Latin

Etymology

From lacus (“lake, basin”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /laˈkuː.na/, [ɫ̪äˈkuːnä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /laˈku.na/, [läˈkuːnä]

Noun

lacūna f (genitive lacūnae); first declension

1. a hole, pit
2. an opening, cavity, hollow, cleft
3. a gap, void, defect

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lacūna	lacūnae
Genitive	lacūnae	lacūnārum
Dative	lacūnae	lacūnīs
Accusative	lacūnam	lacūnās
Ablative	lacūnā	lacūnīs
Vocative	lacūna	lacūnae

Derived terms

• lacūnar
• lacūnārius
• lacūnō
• lacūnōsus

Descendants

• Asturian: llaguna
• Catalan: llacuna
• English: lagoon (through French), lacuna (borrowing)
• French: lacune (borrowing), lagune (through Italian)
• Galician: lagoa
• Italian: lacuna (borrowing), laguna
• Occitan: laguna, lòna, lagua

• Portuguese: lagoa, lacuna (borrowing), laguna (through Venetian/Italian)
• Romanian: lacună (borrowing or through French), lagună (through Italian or French)
• Russian: лакуна (lakuna) (borrowing)
• Spanish: laguna
• Venetian: łaguna

References

• “lacuna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lacuna”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lacuna 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)
• lacuna in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “lacuna”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lacuna in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lacūna. Compare the inherited lagoa.

Noun

lacuna f (plural lacunas)

1. hiatus (gap in a series)
2. blank (space to be filled in)

Synonyms

• (hiatus): hiato

Related terms

• lagoa