[1] Many derivations are suggested, but it seems most probable that
Luperci simply means "wolves" (the last part of the word exhibiting a
similar formation to _nov-erca_), the name having its origin in the
primitive worship of the wolf as a wolf-god.
[2] Mommsen considers the Quinctia to be the older gens, and the
Quinctilia a later introduction from Alba.
LUPINE (_Lupinus_), in botany, a genus of about 100 species of annual
and perennial herbaceous plants of the tribe _Genisteae_, of the order
Leguminosae. Species with digitate leaves range along the west side of
America from British Columbia to northern Chile, while a few occur in
the Mediterranean regions. A few others with entire leaves are found in
Brazil and eastern North America. The leaves are remarkable for
"sleeping" in three different ways. From being in the form of a
horizontal star by day, the leaflets either fall and form a hollow cone
with their bases upwards (_L. pilosus_), or rise and the cone is
inverted (_L. luteus_), or else the shorter leaflets fall and the longer
rise, and so together form a vertical star as in many species; the
object in every case being to protect the surfaces of the leaflets from
radiation and consequent wetting with dew (Darwin, _Movements of
Plants_, p. 340). The flowers are of the usual "papilionaceous" or
pea-like form, blue, white, purple or yellow, in long terminal spikes.
The stamens are monadelphous and bear dimorphic anthers. The species of
which earliest mention is made is probably _L. Termis_, which was
cultivated by the ancient Egyptians. It is wild in some parts of the
Mediterranean area and is extensively cultivated in Egypt. Its seeds are
eaten by the poor after being steeped in water to remove their
bitterness; the stems furnish fuel and charcoal for gunpowder. The
lupine of the ancient Greeks and Romans was probably _L. albus_, which
is still extensively cultivated in Italy, Sicily and other Mediterranean
countries for forage, for ploughing in to enrich the land, and for its
round flat seeds, which form an article of food. Yellow lupine (_L.
luteus_) and blue lupine (_L. angustifolius_) are also cultivated on the
European continent as farm crops for green manuring.
Lupines are easily cultivated in moderately good garden soil; they
include annuals which are among the most ornamental and most easily
grown of summer flowering plants (sow in open borders in April and
May), and perennials, which are grown from seed or propagated by
dividing strong plants in March and April. Many of the forms in
cultivation are hybrid. One of the best known of the perennial species
is _L. polyphyllus_, a western North American species. It grows from 3
to 6 ft. high, and has numerous varieties, including a charming
white-flowered one. The tree lupine (_L. arboreus_) is a Californian
bush, 2 to 4 ft. high, with fragrant yellow flowers. It is only hardy
in the most favoured parts of the kingdom.
LUPUS, PUBLIUS RUTILIUS, Roman rhetorician, flourished during the reign
of Tiberius. He was the author of a treatise on the figures of speech
([Greek: Schêmata lexeôs]), abridged from a similar work by the
rhetorician Gorgias (of Athens, not the well-known sophist of Leontini),
the tutor of Cicero's son. In its present form it is incomplete, as is
clearly shown by the express testimony of Quintilian (_Instit._ ix. 2,
103, 106) that Lupus also dealt with figures of sense, rhetorical
figures ([Greek: Schêmata dianoias]). The work is valuable chiefly as
containing a number of examples, well translated into Latin, from the
lost works of Greek rhetoricians. The author has been identified with
the Lupus mentioned in the Ovidian catalogue of poets (_Ex Ponto_, iv.
16), and was perhaps the son of the Publius Rutilius Lupus, who was a
strong supporter of Pompey.
Editions by D. Ruhnken (1768), F. Jacob (1837), C. Halm in _Rhetores
latini minores_ (1863); see also monographs by G. Dzialas (1860 and
1869), C. Schmidt (1865), J. Draheim (1874), Thilo Krieg (1896).
LUPUS (Lat. _lupus_, wolf), a disease characterized by the formation in
the skin or mucous membrane of small tubercles or nodules consisting of
cell growth which has an inclination to retrograde change, leading to
ulceration and destruction of the tissues, and, if it heals, to the
subsequent formation of permanent white scars. _Lupus vulgaris_ is most
commonly seen in early life, and occurs chiefly on the face, about the
nose, cheeks or ears. But it may also affect the body or limbs. It first
shows itself as small, slightly prominent, nodules covered with thin
crusts or scabs. These may be absorbed and removed at one point whilst
spreading at another. Their disappearance is followed by a permanent
white cicatrix. The disease may be superficial, in which case both the
ulceration and the resulting scar are slight (_lupus non-exedens_); or
the ulcerative process may be deep and extensive, destroying a large
portion of the nose or cheek, and leaving much disfigurement (_lupus
exedens_). A milder form, _lupus erythematosus_, occurs on the nose and
adjacent portions of the cheeks in the form of red patches covered with
thin scales, underneath which are seen the widened openings of the
sebaceous ducts. With a longitudinal patch on the nose and spreading
symmetrical patches on each cheek the appearance is usually that of a
large butterfly. It is slow in disappearing, but does not leave a scar.
Lupus is more frequently seen in women than in men; it is connected with
a tuberculous constitution. In the superficial variety the application
of soothing ointments when there is much redness, and linear incisions,
or scrapings with a sharp spoon, to destroy the increased blood supply,
are often serviceable. In the ordinary form the local treatment is to
remove the new tissue growth by solid points of caustic thrust into the
tubercles to break them up, or by scraping with a sharp spoon. The
light-treatment has been successfully applied in recent years. As
medicines, cod-liver oil, iron and arsenic are useful. (E. O.*)
LUQMAN, or LOKMAN, the name of two, if not of three (cf. note to
Terminal Essay in Sir Rd. Burton's translation of the _Arabian Nights_),
persons famous in Arabian tradition. The one was of the family of 'Ad,
and is said to have built the great dike of Marib and to have received
the gift of life as long as that of seven vultures, each of which lived
eighty years. The name of the seventh vulture--Lubad--occurs in
proverbial literature. The name of the second Luqman, called "Luqman the
Sage," occurs in the Koran (31, 11). Two accounts of him are current in
Arabian literature. According to Mas'udi (i. 110) he was a Nubian
freedman who lived in the time of David in the district of Elah and
Midian. According to some commentators on the Koran (e.g., Baidawi) he
was the son of Ba'ura, one of the sons of Job's sister or maternal aunt.
Derenbourg in his _Fables de Loqmân le sage_ (1850) identifies Ba'ura
with Beoi, and believes the name Luqman to be a translation of _Balaam_.
The grave of _Luqman_ was shown on the east coast of the lake of
Tiberias, also in Yemen (cf. Yaqut, vol. iii. p. 512).
The so-called _Fables of Luqman_ are known to have existed in the 13th
century, but are not mentioned by any Arabian writer. They were edited
by Erpenius (Leiden, 1615) and have been reprinted many times. For the
relation of these to similar literature in other lands, see J.
Jacobs's edition of Caxton's _Fables of Aesop_, vol. i. (London,
1889). The name of Luqman also occurs in many old verses, anecdotes
and proverbs; cf. G. Freytag's _Arabum Proverbia_ (Bonn, 1838-1843)
and such Arabian writers as Tabari, Mas'udi, Damiri and the _Kitab
al-Mu'ammarin_ (ed. by I. Goldziher, Leiden, 1899). (G. W. T.)