levis
Esperanto
Verb
levis
- past of levi
Ido
Verb
levis
- past of levar
Latin
Etymology 1
From Proto-Italic *leɣʷis (with possible contamination from *breɣʷis), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʰwih₂-, from *h₁léngʰus, from *h₁lengʷʰ- (“lightweight”). Cognates include Sanskrit लघु (laghú), Ancient Greek ἐλᾰφρός, ἐλᾰχῠ́ς (elaphrós, elakhús) and Old English lēoht (English light).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈle.u̯is/, [ˈɫ̪eu̯ɪs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈle.vis/, [ˈlɛːvis]
Audio (Classical) (file)
Adjective
levis (neuter leve, comparative levior, superlative levissimus, adverb leviter); third-declension two-termination adjective
- (literally) light, not heavy
- c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 2.10:
- levis armaturae Numidas
- the light-armed Numidians
- levis armaturae Numidas
- Antonym: gravis
- (transferred sense)
- (usually poetic) easy to digest
- quick, swift, fleet, nimble, rapid
- Synonyms: agilis, vēlōx, pernīx, prōmptus, properus, facilis
- Antonym: lentus
- (usually poetic) slight, trifling, small
- 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.180:
- levis tactus
- a slight, gentle touch
- levis tactus
- (figuratively)
- (Classical Latin) light, trivial, trifling, unimportant, inconsiderable, slight, little, petty, easy, dispensable
- c. 54 CE, Seneca the Younger, Phaedra 607:
- Curae leues locuntur, ingentes stupent.
- Trivial concerns talk, great ones are speechless.
- Curae leues locuntur, ingentes stupent.
- light, light-minded, capricious, fickle, inconstant, unreliable, false
- Synonym: mendāx
- (rare) mild, gentle, pleasant
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.17-18:
- dum sedet, umbrōsae salicēs volucrēsque canōrae
fēcērunt somnōs et leve murmur aquae- While she sits, the shady willows, the songs of birds,
and the gentle murmur of the water invite slumber.
- While she sits, the shady willows, the songs of birds,
- dum sedet, umbrōsae salicēs volucrēsque canōrae
- (Classical Latin) light, trivial, trifling, unimportant, inconsiderable, slight, little, petty, easy, dispensable
Inflection
Third-declension two-termination adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | |
Nominative | levis | leve | levēs | levia | |
Genitive | levis | levium | |||
Dative | levī | levibus | |||
Accusative | levem | leve | levēs levīs | levia | |
Ablative | levī | levibus | |||
Vocative | levis | leve | levēs | levia |
Derived terms
- *leviānus
- leviculus
- levidēnsis
- levifēcit
- levifīdus
- levigō
- levipēs
- levisomnus
- levitās
- leviter
- *levius
- levō
- perlevis
Descendants
- Balkan Romance:
- Proto-Romanian: *lieu
- ⇒ Aromanian: lishor
- ⇒ Romanian: ușor
- Proto-Romanian: *lieu
- Italo-Romance:
- Italian: lieve
- North Italian:
- Istriot: levo
- Romansch: lev, leav; leiv
- Gallo-Romance:
- ⇒ Franco-Provençal: levet, levi
- >? Old French: lief
- Occitano-Romance:
- Catalan: lleu
- Gascon: lhèu
- Old Occitan: leu
- Occitan: lèu
- → Portuguese: léu
- Ibero-Romance:
- Old Spanish: lieve, lief (apocopic variant)
- Spanish: leve (possibly influenced by Latin)
- Portuguese: leve
- Old Spanish: lieve, lief (apocopic variant)
Etymology 2
Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Italic *lēiwis, from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁y-u- (“smooth”) and cognate to Ancient Greek λεῖος (leîos, “smooth, plain, level, hairless, soft”), Ancient Greek λίς (lís, “smooth”).[1] Or from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”) and cognate to Latin līmus (“mud, slime, muck”), English slime, Ancient Greek λίμνη (límnē, “marsh”).
Likely cognate to Latin oblīvīscor (“forget”).
Alternative forms
- laevis (incorrect)
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈleː.u̯is/, [ˈɫ̪eːu̯ɪs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈle.vis/, [ˈlɛːvis]
Audio (Classical) (file)
Adjective
lēvis (neuter lēve); third-declension two-termination adjective
- (literally, Classical Latin) smooth, not rough, smoothed, shining, rubbed
- Antonym: asper
- (poetic) slippery
- 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 5.328:
- levi cum sanguine Nisus labitur infelix
- (poetic) without hair, beardless
- Synonym: imberbis
- (poetic) youthful, delicate, beautiful; finely dressed, spruce, effeminate
- (transferred sense, rare) rubbed smooth, ground down, softened, soft
- (Classical Latin, rare) (of speech) smooth, flowing
Inflection
Third-declension two-termination adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | |
Nominative | lēvis | lēve | lēvēs | lēvia | |
Genitive | lēvis | lēvium | |||
Dative | lēvī | lēvibus | |||
Accusative | lēvem | lēve | lēvēs lēvīs | lēvia | |
Ablative | lēvī | lēvibus | |||
Vocative | lēvis | lēve | lēvēs | lēvia |
Derived terms
- lēvitās
- lēvītōnārium
- lēvitūdō
- lēvō
- lēvor
Related terms
- oblīvīscor
References
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “lĕvis”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 5: J L, page 290
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “lēvis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 336-337
References
- “levis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “levis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- levis 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)
- levis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- a man of character, with a strong personality: vir constans, gravis (opp. homo inconstans, levis)
- light infantry: milites levis armaturae
- (ambiguous) men of sound opinions: homines graves (opp. leves)
- a man of character, with a strong personality: vir constans, gravis (opp. homo inconstans, levis)