labyrinthus

Latin

Alternative forms

• labyrinthos, labyrintus, labirinthus, labirintus, laberinthus, laberintus, laberentus, laborinthus, laborintus

Etymology

Borrowing from Ancient Greek λᾰβῠ́ρῐνθος (labúrinthos, “maze”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /la.byˈrin.tʰus/, [ɫ̪äbʏˈrɪn̪t̪ʰʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /la.biˈrin.tus/, [läbiˈrin̪t̪us]

Noun

labyrinthus m (genitive labyrinthī); second declension

1. a building with many winding passages, a labyrinth; especially that built by Daedalus, near Knossos, Crete
   • c. 65 CE, Seneca the Younger, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 5.44.7:

     Quod evenit in labyrintho properantibus: ipsa illos velocitas implicat.

2. (figurative) a maze, tangle, bewildering intricacy

Inflection

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	labyrinthus	labyrinthī
genitive	labyrinthī	labyrinthōrum
dative	labyrinthō	labyrinthīs
accusative	labyrinthum	labyrinthōs
ablative	labyrinthō	labyrinthīs
vocative	labyrinthe	labyrinthī

Derived terms

• labyrinthēus (adjective)
• labyrinthicus (adjective)

Descendants

Descendants

• → Catalan: laberint
• → French: labyrinthe
• → Galician: labirinto
• → Italian: labirinto
• → Middle English: laborintus
  • English: labyrinth
    • Japanese: ラビリンス (rabirinsu)
• → Japanese: ラビュリントス (rabyurintosu)
• → Occitan: laberint
• → Portuguese: labirinto
• → Spanish: laberinto

References

• “labyrinthus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “labyrinthus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• labyrinthus 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)
• labyrinthus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “labyrinthus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “labyrinthus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin