Leucas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A Greek island in the Ionian Sea, off the western coast of mainland Greece ; a genus of aromatic flowering herbs belonging to the mint family
2. An island of western Greece in the Ionian Sea ; a group of aromatic plants in the mint family, often called dead-nettles
3. A Greek island lying in the Ionian Sea near the mainland ; a botanical genus of mint-family herbs with whorled, hairy flowers

Etymology: Lefkada is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, and "leucas" is the older Latinized spelling of its name. The island's name comes from the Greek "Leukas," meaning "white," a reference to the pale limestone cliffs along its coast. Ancient Greek writers used this form, and Latin authors such as Pliny adopted it, which is why classical texts render the place as "Leucas" rather than the modern Greek spelling. Because the island lay close to the mainland, the name was also used for a promontory on the Greek coast, and that is the form most English readers meet in histories of ancient naval warfare. Its spelling in English and other European languages has followed the classical Latin pattern, so "leucas" remains the familiar form in older atlases and classical scholarship even though the island is now called Lefkada.