Lettuce is named after milk — the plant oozes a milky sap when cut. Its Latin name lactuca comes from lac (milk), the same root that gives us "lactose."
A cultivated plant of the daisy family, with edible leaves used as the base of salads. One of the oldest cultivated vegetables, grown by the ancient Egyptians.
From Old French laitues (plural of laitue), from Latin lactuca ('lettuce'), from lac, lactis ('milk'). The plant was named for the milky white sap (latex) that oozes from its stems when cut. Key roots: *glakt- (Proto-Indo-European: "milk"), lac, lactis (Latin: "milk"), lactuca (Latin: "lettuce (the milky plant)").
Lettuce is literally named after milk — Latin lactuca means "the milky one," because wild lettuce oozes a white, milky sap (latex) when its stem is cut. This sap, called lactucarium, is mildly sedative, and the ancient Egyptians associated lettuce with sleep and, oddly, with the fertility god Min. Roman physicians prescribed lettuce at dinner to induce sleep — which is the origin of the tradition of eating