lucunculus

Latin

Etymology

From lucūns (“a type of pastry”) +‎ -culus (diminutive suffix). Alternatively, the correct spelling has been argued to be lucuntulus,^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] from lucūns +‎ -ulus. Upon syncope of the unstressed vowel -u-, both of these alternatives would have merged as luncunclus, because of the Latin sound change from -tl- to -cl-.

Noun

lucunculus m (genitive lucunculī); second declension

thick pancake (glossed with Greek τηγανίτης (tēganítēs), the full recipe of which is described by Galen)
- Afranius, Togatae 162:
  Pistori nubat? cur non scriblitario, / Vt mittat fratris filio lucuntulos?
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 89 CE – 96 CE, Statius, Silvae 1.6.17 (hendecasyllabic):
  Vix Aurora novos movebat ortus,
  iam bellaria linea pluebant:
  hunc rorem veniens profudit Eurus.
  quicquid nobile Ponticis nucetis
  fecundis cadit aut iugis Idumes
  quod ramis pia germinat Damascos
  et quod percoquit Ebosea Caunos
  largis gratuitum cadit rapinis,
  mollēs gāĭŏlī lŭcuntŭlīque
  et massis Amerina non perustis
  et mustaceus et latente palma
  praegnantes caryotides cadebant.
  2015 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey, revised by Christopher A. Parrott
  Scarce was Aurora moving another dawn and already dainties were raining from the line—such the dew that rising East Wind poured down: the best that falls in Pontic nutteries or Idume’s fertile hills, what pious Damascus grows upon her boughs and what Ebosean Caunus ripens—free of charge descends the lavish loot. Soft mannikins and pastries, Ameria’s solidities unscorched, must cakes and pregnant dates from an invisible palm—down they fell.
- c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, Metamorphoses 10.13.21:
  Nam vespera post opiparas cenas earumque splendidissimos apparatus multas numero partes in cellulam suam mei solebant reportare domini: ille porcorum, pullorum, piscium, et cuiusce modi pulmentorum largissimas reliquias, hic panes, crustula, lucunculos, hamos, laterculos, et plura scitamenta mellita. Qui cum se refecturi clausa cellula balneas petissent, oblatis ego divinitus dapibus affatim saginabar.
  1989 translation by J. Arthur Hanson
  In the evenings, after luxurious dinners with the most brilliant trimmings, my masters used to bring back lots of leftovers to their lodgings: the one brought extremely generous remnants of pork, fowl, fish, and every other kind of meat; the other breads, cookies, fritters, croissants, biscuits, and many other honey-sweetened dainties. As soon as they locked up their room and went to the baths to refresh themselves, I would stuff myself to capacity on those heaven-sent feasts.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lucunculus	lucunculī
genitive	lucunculī	lucunculōrum
dative	lucunculō	lucunculīs
accusative	lucunculum	lucunculōs
ablative	lucunculō	lucunculīs
vocative	lucuncule	lucunculī

Descendants

→ Ancient Greek: λούκουντλος (loúkountlos)^[3]

References

^ Grant, Mark (1997), Dieting for an Emperor: A Translation of Books 1 and 4 of Oribasius' Medical Compilations with an Introduction and Commentary, page 117
^ Welsh, Jarrett (2015), “Roman Women in the Fabula Togata”, in Dorota Dutsch, Sharon L. James, David Konstan, editors, Women in Roman Republican Drama, page 166
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Dickey, Eleanor (2023), Latin Loanwords in Ancient Greek: A Lexicon and Analysis, Cambridge University Press, page 269
^ Radicke, Jan (2023), Roman Women’s Dress, De Gruyter