castrum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value). Doublet of Chester.

Noun

castrum (plural castra)

  1. (historical) Among the Ancient Romans, a building or plot of land used as a military defensive position.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kastrom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut, cut off, separate”) +‎ Proto-Indo-European *-trom (Latin -trum) (Watkins, 1969). An older etymology (1899) derived castrum from Latin casa, and proposed an ultimate etymon from a Sanskrit root (sic) *skad-, "to cover". If directly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱ(e)stróm, cognate with Sanskrit शस्त्र (śastrá, “cutting tool”).[1] See also castrō, careō.

Pronunciation

Noun

castrum n (genitive castrī); second declension

  1. castle, fort, fortress
  2. (chiefly in the plural) several soldiers' tents situated together; hence, a military camp, an encampment

Usage notes

Use in singular is rarer than that of castellum.

Declension

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: castro, Castro
  • Old Spanish: castro
  • Borrowings:
    • → Albanian: -kastër
    • → Aramaic: קַצְרָא‎ (qaṣrā) / ܩܰܨܪܳܐ‎ (qaṣrā)
    • → Berber [languages?]: aɣasru, ɣasru
    • → Byzantine Greek: κάστρον (kástron)
    • Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
    • → Hebrew: קְצָרָה‎ (qəṣārā)
    • → Old English: ceaster
    • → Romanian: castru

References
  1. Olsen, Birgit Anette (1988) The Proto-Indo-European Instrument Noun Suffix *-tlom and its Variants (Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser; 55), Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, →ISBN, page 16: “3.1.1. *k̂əs-trom/*-trah₂ “cutting tool””
  • De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “castrum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 97–98
  • “castrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “castrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • castrum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • castrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • veterans; experienced troops: qui magnum in castris usum habent
    • to disarm a person: armis (castris) exuere aliquem
    • to leave troops to guard the camp: praesidio castris milites relinquere
    • to mount guard in the camp: vigilias agere in castris (Verr. 4. 43)
    • to keep the troops in camp: copias castris continere
    • to remain inactive in camp: se (quietum) tenere castris
  • “castrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 586
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