lucus a non lucendo

Meaning

Phrase

• A form of illogical argument asserting that two things are related because they have opposite significations.

Origin

• Latin lūcus ā nōn lūcendō, literally "a grove from not shining", referring to Roman rhetorician Quintilian's assertion, in his Institutio Oratoria, that Latin lūcus derived from lūceō, because groves were dark places and did NOT shine.