castrum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin castrum.

Noun

castrum (plural castra)

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

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut, cut off, separate”) (Watkins, 1969). An older etymology (1899) derived castrum from Latin casa, and proposed an ultimate etymon from a Sanskrit root (sic) *skad-, "to cover". See also castrō, careō.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.trum/, [ˈkas.trũ]

Noun

castrum n (genitive castrī); second declension

castle, fort
(chiefly plural) camp, especially a military camp
- 100 BCE – 44 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.9:
  Caesar exposito exercitu et loco castris idoneo capto […]
  Caesar, having disembarked his army and chosen a convenient place for the camp […]

Inflection

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	castrum	castra
Genitive	castrī	castrōrum
Dative	castrō	castrīs
Accusative	castrum	castra
Ablative	castrō	castrīs
Vocative	castrum	castra

Derived terms

Descendants

Albanian: -kastër
Aramaic: קַצְרָא‎ (qaṣrā) / ܩܰܨܪܳܐ‎ (qaṣrā)
- → Arabic: قَصْر‎ (qaṣr)
  - → Old Catalan: [Term?]
    - Catalan: alcàsser
  - → Old Portuguese: alcaçar, alcaçer
    - Galician: alcácer
    - Portuguese: alcácer
  - → Old Spanish: alcaçar, alcacer
    - Spanish: alcázar
      - → English: alcazar
      - → French: alcazar
  - → Persian: قصر‎ (qasr)
    - Tajik: қаср (qasr)
    - → Turkish: kasır / فصر‎
    - → Uzbek: qasr
  - → Swahili: kasri
Berber: aɣasru, ɣasru
→ Old English: ceaster
- Middle English: Chestre
  - English: -caster, -cester, -chester, Chester
→ Byzantine Greek: κάστρον (kástron)
- Greek: κάστρο n (kástro)
  - → Aromanian: castru
→ Hebrew: קְצָרָה‎ (qəṣārā)
Old Portuguese: castro, Castro
- Galician: castro, Castro
- Portuguese: castro, crasto, Castro
Old Spanish: castro
- Spanish: castro, Castro
→ Romanian: castru

References

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, 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 II, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 586

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