Ludicrum, a Word for 'Toy, Plaything' : Some Remarks on its Origin and Use

This paper focuses on ludicrum as a hyperonym denoting ‘an object to play with’. After some remarks on its origin, the history of the word is analysed within the general frame of the development of Latin ludonyms referring to ‘play’ and ‘games’. Ludicrum never specializes as ‘toy’, and only co-textual elements shed light on the meaning of its occurrences. However, there seems to be no other Latin word that specializes in the sense meaning ‘toy’. Ludicrum appears for the first time in Catullus, yet in all probability it was common even before him, as ludere is the most common verb for children’s playing since Plautus and continued as such until late Antiquity. Ludicrum is usually associated with both human and divine children (or youth); when adults are said to be like children playing with ludicra, a negative overtone is always implied. The paucity of the occurrences of this ludonym is easily explained when we think that our sources are mainly literary texts produced in a culture which is prominently adult-oriented.