licet

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Latin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Indo-European *leyk- (to prepare for sale), with no certain cognates outside of Italic. Cognate with liceor, liceō, Oscan [script needed] (líkítud, it is permitted).

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

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[edit]

   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[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

  • 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[1], 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
  • 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
  • Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 669