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The corpus record — Latin

lentus

lentus

pliant, flexible; tough; sticky; slow

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

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 118 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. lentus — de Vaan

lentus 'pliant, flexible; tough; sticky; slow' [adj. o/a] (P1.+) Derivatives: lentere 'to proceed slowly' (Lucil.). Pit *lento- 'soft'. PIE *lent-o- 'soft, smooth, pliant', IE cognates: Lith. lenta 'board, plank* < *lent~; Ru. lut (dial.) 'bast, bark of a linden', Ru. luia (dial.) 'linden', Cz. lut (dial.) 'bast', Po. ift (dial.) 'twig, switch1 < PS1. *l < *lont-\ OHG lindi, ODan, lind\ *soft, mild', OIc. linnr … — [de Vaan, s.v. lentus, p. 349]

2. lentus — Lewis & Short

lentus, a, um, adj.cf. lenis,

I pliant, flexible, tough, tenacious, sticky, viscous (syn.: flexilis, tardus, serus).
I Lit.: viburna, Verg. E. 1, 26: vitis, id. ib. 3, 38: genistae, id. G. 2, 12: rami, id. ib. 4, 558: flagellum, Phaedr. 3, 6, 6: verbera, i. e. produced with the limber whip, Verg. G. 3, 208: argentum, id. A. 7, 634; Cat. 61, 106; Tib. 4, 1, 171: lentior salicis virgis, Ov. M. 13, 800: gluten visco et pice lentius, tougher, more tenacious, Verg. G. 4, 41: ita istaec nimis lenta vincla sunt escaria, adhesive, tenacious, Plaut. Men. 1, 1, 18; cf.: lentis adhaerens brachiis, Her. Epod. 15, 6: quoniam mas (aron) esset in coquendo lentior, Plin. 24, 16, 92, § 143.—
B Transf., slow, sluggish, immovable: tellus lenta gelu, Prop. 4 (5), 3, 39. amnis, Plin. 36, 26, 65, § 190: in lento luctantur marmore tonsae, sluggish, motionless, Verg. A. 7, 28: lento pilo, Tib. 4, 1, 90: asinus, Phaedr. 1, 15, 7: uteri pondera lenta, immovable, heavy, Prop. 4 (5), 1, 96.(100): herba durior et in coquendo lentior, slower, longer, Plin. 24, 16, 92, § 143: venenum, Tac. A. 6, 32: remedia, Curt. 3, 5, 13; Suet. Tib. 73: miserum populum Romanum, qui sub tam lentis maxillis erit, id. ib. 21: lentaque fori pugnamus harena, Juv. 7, 47: funus matris, slow in coming, id. 6, 565.—
II Trop.
A Lasting or continuing long: militiae, Tib. 1, 3, 82: amor, id. 1, 4, 81: spes, Ov. H. 2, 9: tranquillitatis lentissimae taedium, Sen. Ep. 70: lentus abesto, remain long away, Ov. R. Am. 243: vivacitas adeo lenta, persistent, Plin. 8, 27, 41, § 100.—
B Slow, lingering, lazy: lentus in dicendo, drawling, Cic. Brut. 48: mortis genus, Suet. Caes. 87: si lentus pigrā muniret castra dolabra, Juv. 8, 248: ira deorum, id. 13, 100.—
(b) With gen.: lentus coepti, Sil. 3, 176.—
(g) With inf.: nec Idalia lenta incaluisse sagitta, Sil. 5, 19.—
2 Of bad payers, slow, backward: infitiatores, Cic. Cat. 2, 10: negotium, tedious, id. Att. 1, 12; 1, 13 fin.—
C Of character, easy, calm, indifferent, unconcerned, phlegmatic, sluggish, obstinate: ut multa verba feci, ut lenta materies fuit, Plaut. Mil. 4, 5, 4: genus ridiculi patientis ac lenti, Cic. de Or. 2, 69: nimium patiens et lentus existimor, id. ib. 2, 75: Hannibalem lenti spectamus, Liv. 22, 14: lentus in suo dolore, Tac. A. 3, 70: tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra, at ease, Verg. E. 1, 4: lentissima pectora, insensible, cold (to love), Ov. H. 15, 169.—*
D (Pliant, hence) Ready, willing, Lucil. ap. Non. 22, 32, and 338, 13.—Hence, adv.: lentē, slowly, without haste, leisurely.
1 Lit.: lente ac paulatim proceditur, Caes. B. C. 1, 80: currere, Ov. Am. 1, 13, 40: corpora lente augescunt, cito exstinguuntur, Tac. Agr. 3: Nilus evagari incipit, lente primo, deinde vehementius, Plin. 18, 18, 47, § 167. —Comp.: ipse cum reliquis copiis lentius subsequitur, Caes. B. C. 2, 40.—Sup.: asinus lentissime mandit, Col. 2, 15.—*
b Transf., pliantly, readily: arida ligna lentius serrae cedunt, Plin. 16, 43, 83, § 227. —
2 Trop.
a Calmly, dispassionately, indifferently: aliquid lente ferre, Cic. de Or. 2, 45, 190; cf. id. Fragm. ap. Non. 338, 9: agere, Liv. 1, 10: respondere, to answer cooly, phlegmatically, Cic. de Or. 2, 71, 287. —Comp.: sed haec videri possunt odiosiora, cum lentius disputantur, Cic. Par. 1, 2, 10: quid lentius, celerius dicendum, Quint. 1, 8, 1.—
b In a good sense, calmly, considerately, attentively: nisi eum (librum) lente ac fastidiose probavissem, Cic. Att. 2, 1, 1.

In the wild

6 of 571 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. lentus (scan p. 349; entry #894). Root candidates: *lento-.
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. lentus (scan p. 543; entry #8904).

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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.