luctus

Luctus is a Latin noun meaning mourning, grief, or lamentation. It refers to the state or expression of sorrow in the face of death or loss and is often found in religious or literary contexts, especially poetry and funerary or elegiac writing. It is a masculine noun of the fourth declension.

The term derives from the verb lugere “to mourn” and is related to adjectives such as lugubris, meaning mournful. The word is part of a semantic field around bereavement and sorrow; the broader family also yields English descendants such as lugubrious.

Usage of luctus encompasses personal grief, communal mourning, or ceremonial lamentation. In classical Latin, it can denote either private sorrow or public mourning duties, and it appears in poetry and rhetoric to convey solemn emotion. It is typically used in formal or literary contexts rather than in everyday speech.

Grammatical notes: As a fourth-declension noun, its typical forms include: nominative singular luctus; genitive singular luctūs; dative singular luctuī; accusative singular luctum; ablative singular luctū. Plural forms are: nominative luctus; genitive luctuum; dative luctibus; accusative luctus; ablative luctibus.

In modern scholarly use, luctus is encountered in discussions of Latin vocabulary for grief and in translations of texts dealing with funerary rites, mourning practices, and elegiac expression. It is also cited in reference works to illustrate the range of emotion associated with bereavement in ancient Latin literature.