lugubris

From the root of lūgeō (“mourn, lament”) via Proto-Italic *lougosris[1] or *leugosris,[2] built on a neuter s-stem noun *lougos/*leugos with change of sr→br (compare muliebris, fūnebris). Sen 2015 identifies the ending as the suffix *-lis, making the original formation *leug-os-lis, with subsequent dissimilation of l...l to l...r.[2] An alternative theory derives it from *lūge-blis, with the same dissimilation.[1]

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.ɡu.bris/, [ˈɫ̪uːɡʊbrɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlu.ɡu.bris/, [ˈluːɡubris]

lūgubris (neuter lūgubre, adverb lūgubrē or lūgubriter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. of or pertaining to mourning
   • 163 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Heauton Timorumenos 2.3.44–45:

     Texentem tēlam studiōsē ipsam offendimus,
     mediocriter vestītam veste lūgubrī […]

     We found her studiously weaving at the loom,
     modestly dressed in mourning clothes […]

2. that causes mourning, disastrous; pitiable
   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 2.1.33–36:

     Quī gurgēs aut quae flūmina lūgubris
     ignāra bellī? Quod mare Dauniae
     nōn dēcolorāvere caedēs?
     quae caret ōra cruōre nostrō?

     What seas or rivers are unaware
     of the disastrous war? Which sea the Daunian
     slaughters haven't stained?
     Which shore lacks our blood?

3. mournful, doleful, plaintive
4. gloomy, sinister, mean

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

• lūgubrē
• lūgubria
• lūgubriter

• → Catalan: lúgubre
• → English: lugubrious
• → French: lugubre
• Italian: lugubre
• → Portuguese: lúgubre
• → Romanian: lugubru
• → Spanish: lúgubre
• >? Portuguese: lôbrego
• >? Spanish: lóbrego
  • →? Catalan: llòbrec

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