laetus

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈlae̯.tus/, [ˈɫ̪äe̯t̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.tus/, [ˈlɛːt̪us]

Etymology 1

Unknown; possibly related to alacer (“happy, glad, cheerful”). Often compared to lardum (“fat, bacon lard”) and largus (“abundant, bountiful”), presupposing an earlier form *lai-to and earlier *lai-es, but de Vaan finds this reconstruction problematic.

Alternative forms

• lētus (Medieval Latin)

Adjective

laetus (feminine laeta, neuter laetum, comparative laetior, superlative laetissimus, adverb laetē); first/second-declension adjective

1. happy, cheerful, glad

   Synonyms: felix, libēns, alacer, hilaris, hilarus, vīvus

   Antonyms: trīstis, infelix, maestus, miser, aeger

   Laetus sum. ― I (a man) am happy.

   Laeta sum. ― I (a woman) am happy.

2. fertile, luxuriant, lush, rich
   • 234 BCE – 149 BCE, Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura 6:

     Ubi ager crassus et laetus est sine arboribus, eum agrum frumentarium esse oportet.

     Grain should be sown in heavy, rich, treeless soil.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	laetus	laeta	laetum		laetī	laetae	laeta
genitive	laetī	laetae	laetī		laetōrum	laetārum	laetōrum
dative	laetō	laetae	laetō		laetīs
accusative	laetum	laetam	laetum		laetōs	laetās	laeta
ablative	laetō	laetā	laetō		laetīs
vocative	laete	laeta	laetum		laetī	laetae	laeta

Derived terms

• laetificō
• laetificus
• laetitia
• laetō

Descendants

• Old French: lié
  • Norman: liement
• Galician: ledo
• Italian: lieto
• Portuguese: ledo
• Spanish: ledo

Etymology 2

From Gothic *𐌻𐌴𐍄𐍃 (*lēts) (attested in Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌴𐍄𐍃 (fralēts, “freeman”)), from Proto-Germanic *lētaz, from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to let, rent, free, release”). Attested in the Lex Salica. Cognate with Old Frisian lēt (“serf”), Old English lǣt (“serf”), English let, liege.

Alternative forms

• litus

Noun

laetus m (genitive laetī); second declension (Late Latin)

1. a foreign bondman who received a piece of land to cultivate, for which he paid tribute to his master; a serf.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	laetus	laetī
genitive	laetī	laetōrum
dative	laetō	laetīs
accusative	laetum	laetōs
ablative	laetō	laetīs
vocative	laete	laetī

Derived terms

• laeticus
  • Old French: lige, liege (see there for further descendants)

Descendants

• → Old Saxon: lido, liddo (< litus)
• → Old High German: litus
  • Middle High German: *lite
    • German: Lite

References

• Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “laetus”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots‎^[1] (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, pages 337b–338a
• “laetus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “laetus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• laetus 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)
• laetus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the laughing cornfields: laetae segetes
    
• “laetus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray