The corpus record — Latin

labes

labes · f

a fall, falling down, sinking in

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Cupido cruciatur 1 · 13.57/10k
Hamartigenia 3 · 4.69/10k
Apotheosis 2 · 2.7/10k
Saturae 1 · 2.21/10k
Ex Ponto 4 · 1.93/10k
De Consolatione ad Polybium 1 · 1.76/10k
Octavius 2 · 1.72/10k
Psychomachia 1 · 1.67/10k
Contra Symmachum 2 · 1.66/10k
Epistulae 4 · 1.56/10k
Phaedra 1 · 1.41/10k
Cathemerina 1 · 1.36/10k

Densest 12 of 38 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. lābes — Lewis & Short

lābes, is (f.1. lābor,

abl. labi for labe, Lucr. 5, 930),

I a fall, falling down, sinking in.

I Lit. (rare but class.): dare labem, Lucr. 2, 1145: motus terrae Rhodum ... gravi ruinarum labe concussit, Just. 30, 4, 3: tantos terrae motus in Italia factos esse, ut multis locis labes factae sint terraeque desederint, subsidences of the earth, Cic. Div. 1, 35, 78; cf.: labes agri, id. ib. 1, 43, 97: terrae, Liv. 42, 15; so absol.: si labes facta sit, omnemque fructum tulerit, Dig. 19, 2, 15, § 2: labes imbris e caelo, Arn. 5, 185.—

II Transf.

A A fall, stroke, ruin, destruction: hinc mihi prima mali labes, the first blow of misfortune, Verg. A. 2, 97: haec prima mali labes, hoc initium impendentis ruinae fuit, Just. 17, 1, 5: metuo legionibu' labem, Enn. ap. Diom. p. 378 P. (Ann. v. 283 Vahl.): quanta pernis pestis veniet, quanta labes larido, Plaut. Capt. 4, 3, 3: innocentiae labes ac ruina, Cic. Fl. 10, 24: labes in tabella, id. Lael. 12, 41: regnorum labes, Val. Fl. 5, 237.—

B Meton., ruin, destruction; of a dangerous person, one who causes ruin: (Verres) labes atque pernicies provinciae Siciliae, Cic. Verr. 1, 1, 2: labes popli, Plant. Pers. 3, 3, 4.—Of a bad law: labes atque eluvies civitatis, Cic. Dom. 20, 53.—

2 In partic., the falling sickness, epilepsy, Ser. Samm. 57, 1018.— Hence, in gen., disease, sickness, Grat. Cyneg. 468.

2. lābes — Lewis & Short

lābes, is, f.Gr. lw/bh, lwbeu/w; cf. Georg Curtius Griech. Etym. p. 372.

I a spot, blot, stain, blemish, defect.

I Lit. (poet. and in post-Aug. prose): tractata notam labemque remittunt Atramenta, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 235: sine labe toga, Ov. A. A. 1, 514: purum et sine labe salinum, Pers. 3, 25: victima labe carens, Ov. M. 15, 130: aliqua corporis labe insignis, Suet. Aug. 38: item quae (virgo) lingua debili sensuve aurium deminuta, aliave qua corporis labe insignita sit, Gell. 1, 12, 3.—

II Trop., a stain, blot, stigma, disgrace, discredit: labes macula in vestimento dicitur, et deinde metaforikw=s transfertur in homines vituperatione dignos, Paul. ex Fest. p. 121 Müll. (freq. and class.): animi labes nec diuturnitate evanescere, nec amnibus ullis elui potest, Cic. Leg. 2, 10, 24: saeculi labes atque macula, id. Balb. 6, 15: labem alicujus dignitati aspergere, a stain, disgrace, id. Vatin. 6, 15: labem alicui inferre, id. Cael. 18, 42: famae non sine labe meae, Prop. 4 (5), 8, 20. domus sine labe, Juv. 14, 69: vita sine labe peracta, Ov. P. 2, 7, 49: abolere labem prioris ignominiae, Tac. H. 3, 24: donec longa dies ... concretam eximit labem, purumque relinquit sensum, Verg. A. 6, 746. —Of an immoral custom: dedit hanc contagio labem, Juv. 2, 78.—Plur.: conscientiae labes habere, Cic. Off. 3, 21, 85: peccatorum labibus inquinati, Lact. 4, 26; id. Ira Dei, 19.—

b Meton. (abstr. pro concreto), a disgrace, i. e. a good-for-nothing fellow, a wretch: habeo quem opponam labi illi atque caeno, Cic. Sest. 8, 20: caenum illud ac labes, id. ib. 11, 26.

In the wild

labe Cicero, De Divinatione 1.97
labe Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 1.12.3
labe Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber 14.54
labe Apuleius, Metamorphoses 5.8
labe Ovid, Tristia 4.8.33
labe Prudentius, Hamartigenia pr.55

6 of 55 attestations shown.

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. labés (scan p. 357; entry #5591).

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.