lubricus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *slouβrikos, from Proto-Indo-European *slewbʰ- (“slip, slide”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.bri.kus/, [ˈɫ̪uːbrɪkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlu.bri.kus/, [ˈluːbrikus]

Adjective

lūbricus (feminine lūbrica, neuter lūbricum); first/second-declension adjective

1. slippery, slimy
2. fleeting
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.475–476:

     mandantem amplectī cupiunt et bracchia tendunt:
     lūbrica prēnsantēs effugit umbra manūs

     [As he is] entrusting [his request to them], they long to embrace [him] and extend their arms: the fleeting shade eludes their grasping hands.
     (The ghost of Remus appears to his foster-parents Faustulus and Acca Larentia; see also Romulus and Remus.)

3. inconstant
4. deceitful
   • 4th-century CE, Jerome of Stridon (St. Jerome), Vulgate, 26:28

     Lingua fallāx nōn amat vēritātem et os lūbricum operātur ruīnās.

     A deceitful tongue loveth not truth: and a slippery mouth worketh ruin.

     (trans.: Douay-Rheims Bible)

5. hazardous, unsteady
6. tricky

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	lūbricus	lūbrica	lūbricum		lūbricī	lūbricae	lūbrica
genitive	lūbricī	lūbricae	lūbricī		lūbricōrum	lūbricārum	lūbricōrum
dative	lūbricō	lūbricae	lūbricō		lūbricīs
accusative	lūbricum	lūbricam	lūbricum		lūbricōs	lūbricās	lūbrica
ablative	lūbricō	lūbricā	lūbricō		lūbricīs
vocative	lūbrice	lūbrica	lūbricum		lūbricī	lūbricae	lūbrica

Derived terms

• lūbricitās
• lūbricō
• lūbricum

Descendants

• Portuguese: lôbrego
• Spanish: lóbrego
• → Catalan: lúbric
• → English: lubric
• → French: lubrique
• → Galician: lúbrico
• → Italian: lubrico
• → Occitan: lubric
• → Portuguese: lúbrico
• → Spanish: lúbrico

References

• “lubricus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lubricus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lubricus 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)
• lubricus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.