The corpus record — Latin

libra

pound (measure of weight) (Lex XII, P1.+); pair of scales (Varro+)

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

Where it lives

Divus Claudius 6 · 20.22/10k
Eclogarum Liber 2 · 7.3/10k
Galba 1 · 3.63/10k
De agri cultura 5 · 3.2/10k
Probus 1 · 2.43/10k
Saturae 1 · 2.21/10k
In Rufinum 1 · 1.75/10k
Antoninus Heliogabalus 1 · 1.73/10k
De Architectura 10 · 1.73/10k
Thyestes 1 · 1.59/10k
Tyranni Triginta 1 · 1.52/10k
Divus Augustus 2 · 1.49/10k

Densest 12 of 35 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. libra — de Vaan

libra 'pound (measure of weight) (Lex XII, P1.+); pair of scales (Varro+)' [f. a] (Lex ΧΠ+) i Derivatives: Ubrare 'to make level, balance' (Cato+), librarius [adj.] 'of a pound's weight' (Cato+), libella 'small silver coin; plumb-line' (PL+); selibro 'half a libra5 (Cato+), simbella la coin worth half a libella' (Varro); collibrare 'to measure' (Cato), — [de Vaan, s.v. libra, p. 353]

2. lībra — Lewis & Short

lībra, ae, f.cf. li/tra; root cli-, clino,

I the Roman pound, of twelve ounces: as erat libra pondus, Varr. L. L. 5, § 169 Müll.: coronam auream libram pondo ex publica pecunia in Capitolio Iovi donum posuit, Liv. 4, 20: mulli binas libras ponderis raro exsuperant, Plin. 9, 17, 30, § 64: expende Hannibalem, quot libras in duce summo invenies? Juv. 10, 147: neque argenti in convivio plus pondo quam libras centum inlaturos, Gell. 2, 24, 2: dipondii pondo duas erant libras, Gai. Inst. 1, 122.—

II Transf.

A A measure for liquids: frumenti denos modios et totidem olei libras, Suet. Caes. 38.—

B. 1. A balance, pair of scales: cum in alteram librae lancem animi bona imponebat, in alteram corporis, etc., Cic. Tusc. 5, 17, 51; cf. id. Fin. 5, 30, 91.—

2 A water-poise, plummet-level, level, line: sin autem locus ... pari libra cum aequore maris est, Col. 8, 17, 4: libratur autem dioptris aut libris aquariis aut chorobate, Vitr. 8, 6, 1.—Hence, ad libram: alteram navem pluribus aggressus navibus in quibus ad libram fecerat turres, of equal height or of equal weight, Caes. B. C. 3, 40, 1.—

3 Counterpoise, balance: contra flatus quoque pervicax libra Bononiensibus calamis, Plin. 16, 36, 65, § 161: aes et libra, v. aes.—

4 The constellation Libra, The Balance, Verg. G. 1, 208; Ov. F. 4, 386; Plin. 18, 25, 59, § 221: felix aequato genitus sub pondere Librae, Manil. 4, 545.—

5 Trop., a balance (poet.), Pers. 4, 10: animi cunctantis libra, Claud. Laud. Stil. 1, 75.

In the wild

libram Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 23.2.p2
librae Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 35.6.p14
libram Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 18.7.p12
libram Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 18.7.p12
Librae Lucan, Pharsalia 9.534
Librae Seneca, Thyestes 1

6 of 92 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. libra (scan p. 353; entry #910).
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. libra (scan p. 380; entry #6002).

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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.