The story
- Proto-Indo-European*terh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*térh₂t
- Proto-Indo-European*tr̥h₂ónts
- Proto-Indo-European*tr̥h₂n̥ts
- Proto-Italic*trāns
- Proto-Italic*trāns-
- Latintrāns-
- Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
- Proto-Indo-European*lowkéyeti
- Proto-Italic*loukeō
- Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
- Proto-Indo-European*lukéh₁yeti
- Proto-Italic*l(o)ukēō?
- Latinlūceō
- Latintrānslūceō
- Latintrānslūcēns
- Englishtranslucent
- English todaytransluce
As if from Latin trānslūceō (“shine through; be translucent”), but perhaps a back-formation from translucent (ultimately from the same Latin verb).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.