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In ancient Roman religion, a ''lucus'' is a sacred grove. ''Lucus'' was one of four Latin words meaning in general "forest, woodland, grove" (along with ''nemus'', ''silva'', and ''saltus''), but unlike the others it was primarily used as a religious designation.〔Paul Roche, ''Lucan: De Bello Civili, Book 1'' (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 296.〕 Servius defines the ''lucus'' as "a large number of trees with a religious significance," as distinguished from the ''silva'', a natural forest, and a ''nemus'', an arboretum that is not consecrated.〔Servius, note to ''Aeneid'' 1.310, ''arborum multitudo cum religione''; Jörg Rüpke, ''Religion of the Romans'' (Polity Press, 2007, originally published in German 2001), p. 275, noting that he finds the distinction "artificial."〕 A ''saltus'' usually implied a wilderness area with varied topographical features. A ''lucus'' was a cultivated place, more like a wooded park than a forest, and might contain an ''aedes'', a building that housed the image of a god, or other landscaped features that facilitated or gave rise to ritual.〔Rüpke, ''Religion of the Romans'', pp. 177–178.〕 It has been conjectured,〔Rüpke, ''Religion of the Romans'', p. 178.〕 for instance, that the Lupercal, referred to as a "cave," was a small ''lucus'' with an artificial grotto, since archaeology has uncovered no natural cave in the area. Apuleius records that "when pious travelers happen to pass by a sacred grove ''(lucus)'' or a cult place on their way, they are used to make a vow ''(votum)'', or a fruit offering, or to sit down for a while."〔Apuleius, ''Florides'' 1.1.〕 What the Romans understood by ''religio'' lay in these ritual gestures, and not in contemplation.〔John Scheid, "Sacrifices for Gods and Ancestors," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'' (Blackwell, 2007), p. 279.〕 ==Etymology== Some ancient sources as well as modern etymologists derive the word "from a letting in of light" ''(a lucendo)''; that is, the ''lucus'' was the clearing encompassed by trees.〔Entry on "Etymology," in ''The Classical Tradition'' (Harvard University Press, 2010), p. 343.〕 The Old High German cognate ''lôh'' also means "clearing, holy grove." ''Lucus'' appears to have been understood in this sense in early medieval literature; until the 10th century, it is regularly translated into OHG as ''harug'', a word never used for the secular ''silva''.〔D.H. Green, ''Language and History in the Early Germanic World'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998, 2000), p. 26.〕 Servius, however, somewhat perversely says that a ''lucus'' is so called because ''non luceat'', "it is not illuminated," perhaps implying that a proper sacred grove hosted only legitimate daytime ceremonies and not dubious nocturnal rites that required torchlight.〔''Non quod sint ibi lumina causa religionis'': Servius, note to ''Aeneid'' (1.441 ); Ken Dowden, ''European Paganism: The Realities of Cult from Antiquity to the Middle Ages'' (Routledge, 2000), p. 74.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「lucus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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