lacuna
English
editEtymology
editLearned borrowing from Latin lacūna (“a ditch, pit; a hollow, cavity; a gap, defect”). Doublet of lacune and lagoon.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editlacuna (plural lacunae or (obsolete) lacunæ or lacunas)
- (particularly anatomy) A small opening; a small pit or depression, especially in bone.
- Coordinate term: fovea
- (microscopy) A space visible between cells, allowing free passage of light.
- A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- "Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunæ by some measure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger.
- 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.
- (figurative) Any gap, break, hole, or lack in a set of things; something missing.
- 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, volume 41, number 7, , page 577:
- If the researcher cannot adequately hear a specific conversation due to its low volume or other acoustic interference, then this data point can be passed over with the understanding that such lacunae will be randomly distributed over the data collecting period.
- (linguistics, 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.
- Synonym: anisomorphism
- Hyponyms: accidental gap, lexical gap
Synonyms
editDerived terms
editTranslations
edit
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Further reading
edit- “lacuna”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “lacuna”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Anagrams
editItalian
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Latin lacūna. Compare the inherited doublet laguna.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editlacuna f (plural lacune)
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- lacuna in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Anagrams
editLatin
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editAccording to Alfred Ernout and Antoine Meillet, [1] from the feminine substantivation of an unattested adjectival form *lacūnus (pertaining to a lake, cistern), itself from lacus (“a lake, pond; a basin, tank, cistern”) + -nus (see -īnus). For the u-stem-appended -nus adjectival suffix compare opportūnus and importūnus, from portus. For its substantivation, probably from the clipping of the set-phrase "lacuna aqua" (cistern water), compare urīna with the same development.
Pronunciation
edit- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /laˈkuː.na/, [ɫ̪äˈkuːnä]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /laˈku.na/, [läˈkuːnä]
Noun
editlacūna f (genitive lacūnae); first declension
- (literal, chiefly poetic) a hole, pit, ditch; (especially) a pool, pond
- (figurative, rare, Classical Latin) a gap, void, defect, want, loss
- c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 1.3.23:
- […], minimaque illa labes et quasi lacuna famae munimentis partarum amico utilitatium solidatur.
- […] and this unimportant fault, a simple defect of good reputation is repaid (made firm again) by the excuse of new-found circumstances to help a friend.
- […], minimaque illa labes et quasi lacuna famae munimentis partarum amico utilitatium solidatur.
Inflection
editFirst-declension noun.
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | lacūna | lacūnae |
genitive | lacūnae | lacūnārum |
dative | lacūnae | lacūnīs |
accusative | lacūnam | lacūnās |
ablative | lacūnā | lacūnīs |
vocative | lacūna | lacūnae |
Synonyms
editDerived terms
editRelated terms
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- ^ Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “lacus”, 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, page 337
- “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[3], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
Portuguese
editEtymology
editLearned borrowing from Latin lacūna.[1][2] Compare the inherited lagoa and laguna.
Pronunciation
edit
- Hyphenation: la‧cu‧na
Noun
editlacuna f (plural lacunas)
Related terms
editReferences
edit- ^ “lacuna”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024
- ^ “lacuna”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024
Romanian
editPronunciation
editNoun
editlacuna f
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English learned borrowings from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/uːnə
- Rhymes:English/uːnə/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Anatomy
- en:Microscopy
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Linguistics
- en:Translation studies
- English unadapted borrowings from Latin
- Italian terms borrowed from Latin
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian doublets
- Italian 3-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/una
- Rhymes:Italian/una/3 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian feminine nouns
- Latin terms suffixed with -nus
- Latin 3-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin first declension nouns
- Latin feminine nouns in the first declension
- Latin feminine nouns
- Latin poetic terms
- Latin terms with quotations
- Latin terms with rare senses
- Classical Latin
- Portuguese terms borrowed from Latin
- Portuguese learned borrowings from Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese doublets
- Portuguese 3-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese feminine nouns
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian noun forms