ludius

Latin

Etymology

From lūdus (“stage-play, show, performance”) +‎ -ius, from the same root as lūdō (“to play”). Compare lūdiō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫuː.di.ʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈluː.di.us]

Noun

lūdius m (genitive lūdiī or lūdī, feminine lūdia); second declension

1. performer (on stage)
2. gladiator (performer in the games)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lūdius	lūdiī
genitive	lūdiī lūdī1	lūdiōrum
dative	lūdiō	lūdiīs
accusative	lūdium	lūdiōs
ablative	lūdiō	lūdiīs
vocative	lūdie	lūdiī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Synonyms

• lūdiō

Derived terms

• lūdia

References

• “ludius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ludius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ludius”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “ludius”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray