licet

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *leyk- (“to prepare for sale”), with no certain cognates outside of Italic.[1] Cognate with liceor, liceō, Oscan [script needed] (líkítud, “it is permitted”); outside of Italic, compare perhaps Lithuanian reikė́ti (“to need”).[2]

Pronunciation

Verb

licet (present infinitive licēre, perfect active licuit or licitum est, future participle licitūrus); second conjugation, no passive

  1. (with dative) to be allowed; to be permitted
    Licetne pauca?
    May I speak a word with you?
    (literally, “Are a few [words] permitted?”)
    Quod licet Iovī, nōn licet bovī
    Gods may do what cattle may not
    (literally, “What is permissible for Jupiter is not permissible for an ox”)
    • 16 BCE, Ovid, The Loves 3.4:
      Cui peccare licet, peccat minus.
      To whom it is allowed to sin, sins less.
  2. (impersonal, with subjunctive or, post-classically, indicative) although, even if
    • Juvenal, Saturae 1.105:
      licet ipse negam
      even if I were to deny it

Conjugation
   Conjugation of licet (second conjugation, mostly impersonal, active only)
indicative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present — — licet — — licent
imperfect — — licēbat — — licēbant
future — — licēbit — — —
perfect — — licuit,
licitum est		 — — —
pluperfect — — licuerat,
licitum erat		 — — —
future perfect — — licuerit,
licitum erit		 — — —
subjunctive singular plural
first second third first second third
active present — — liceat — — liceant
imperfect — — licēret — — —
perfect — — licuerit,
licitum sit		 — — —
pluperfect — — licuisset,
licitum esset		 — — —
imperative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present — — — — — —
future — licētō licētō — — —
non-finite forms active passive
present perfect future present perfect future
infinitives licēre licuisse,
licitum esse		 licitūrum esse — — —
participles licēns licitus licitūrus — — —

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Franco-Provençal: lêsir
  • Old French: loisir, leisir, licence
  • Old Irish: liced, ced

References
  • “licet”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “licet”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • licet in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • this much I can vouch for: illud pro certo affirmare licet
    • allow me to say: pace tua dixerim or dicere liceat
    • I have no objection: per me licet
  • Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 669
  1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “licet”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 340
  2. “licet”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
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