Luna

From Middle English lune, luna (“the moon”), from Latin lūna/Lūna, from Proto-Indo-European *lówksneh₂. Doublet of Roxane.

(Roman mythology) The sister of Aurora and Sol; the goddess of the moon; equivalent to the Greek Selene.


Mars

From Middle English Mars, from Latin Mārs (“god of war”), from older Latin (older than 75 BCE) Māvors.

Mars was the lover of Venus, and together they had a daughter called Harmonia.


Mercury

Inherited from Middle English Mercurie, from Latin Mercurius.

(Roman mythology) The Roman god associated with speed, sometimes used as a messenger, wearing winged sandals; the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes.


Mors

(Roman mythology) The god and personification of death; the Roman counterpart of Thanatos.


Nox

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of night.


Psyche

From Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, literally “Soul, Spirit”).

uder

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The personification of the soul. Originally a mortal princess who later married Eros/Cupid, (the god of love), was deified, and bore him a daughter, Hedone/Voluptas.


Roman

en-adj

Roman (comparative more Roman, superlative most Roman)

more Roman (comparative)
most Roman (superlative)

From Old French Romain, from Latin Rōmānus. In reference to the Byzantine Empire, via the Byzantine Greek endonym Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaîos). By surface analysis, Rome + -an. Doublet of Romano.

(historical) Of or from the Roman Empire.


Sol

(Roman mythology) The sun god; equivalent of the Greek Helios. Brother of Luna and Aurora.


Tellus

Borrowed from Latin tellus (“Earth, globe, world”), from Proto-Italic *telnos, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *telnos ~ *telnes-, from *telh₂- (“flat ground”), but reshaped after rūs. Otherwise, could derive from Etruscan 𐌕𐌖𐌋𐌀𐌓 (tular, “earth”).

bor+

Perhaps the Custome of the Beggars, throwing the remainder of drinke out of the Dish on the Ground, may be derived from an Ethnick sacrifice to Tellus.

1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 37:

Now they could see what the guide was telling them: that the pillars supporting the frontage were of red granite, mined in Sweden, flanked at either end by golden statues of Atlas and Tellus, bearing on their shoulders spheres depicting the heavens and the earth.

1992, Robert Harris, Fatherland, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 27:

(Roman mythology) The goddess of the Earth in Roman mythology.


Terminus

Learned borrowing from Latin terminus (“a boundary or border, a limit or point”). Doublet of terminus and term.

lbor

(Roman mythology) The god of boundaries and landmarks, focus of the important Roman festival of Terminalia.


Terra

From Latin Terra (“goddess of the earth; the land itself”).

uder

interpretatio graeca
interpretatio graeca

(Roman mythology) The Roman earth goddess, equivalent in the interpretatio graeca to Gaea.


Trivia

(Roman mythology) An aspect of the Roman goddess Diana, pertaining to her role as guardian of trivia (crossroads or forks where three roads meet); used as an epithet.


uncia

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-uncia.wav

From Latin uncia (“various Roman units”). Doublet of ounce, inch, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.

doublet

(historical) A bronze coin minted by the Roman Republic, 1/12 of an as.


papyrology

en-noun

papyrology (usually uncountable, plural papyrologies)

The study of papyrus, particularly the branch of archeology concerning ancient texts written on papyrus.

علم البرديات

the study of ancient texts written on papyrus


papyrologist

From papyro- + -ologist, after the model of earlier papyrology.

A student of or expert in papyrology, the study of papyrus and ancient writings on papyrus.


palatine

From late Middle English palatyne, from Old French palatin, from Medieval Latin palātīnus (“relating to the palace”), from palātium (“palace”) + -īnus (“-ine”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of paladin.

af

Of or relating to a palace especially of a Roman or Holy Roman Emperor.


palatine

A feudal lord (ellipsis of count palatine.) or a bishop possessing palatine powers.

A palace official, especially in an imperial palace.

(historical) Ellipsis of county palatine.


palatine

Borrowing from French palatin, from New Latin palātīnus, from palātum (“the palate”) + -īnus (“-ine”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to palate + -ine.


lustre

en-noun

lustre (countable and uncountable, plural lustres)

From Middle French lustre. See luster (etymology 1).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-lustre.wav

Various kinds of minerals differ in their lustre; iron pyrites are described as having a metallic lustre, glassy materials a vitreous lustre; others, such as opal, look resinous, and the lustres of yet others are described as being either pearly, or silky, or dull, like earth.

(geology) The way in which the surface of any particular type of mineral reflects light differently from other minerals, which is helpful in telling minerals apart.


quincunx

quincunx (plural quincunxes or quincunces)

(historical, numismatics) A bronze coin minted during the Roman Republic, valued at five-twelfths of an as.


Neptunian

From Latin Neptūnius (“of or pertaining to the Roman god Neptune”), from Neptūnus (“the Roman god Neptune”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nebʰ- (“to become damp, cloudy”)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns); analysable as Neptune + -ian. The English word is cognate with French neptunien (“pertaining to the Roman god Neptune, pertaining to the sea, pertaining to Neptunism, Neptunian; proponent of Neptunism, Neptunist”), German Neptunier (“proponent of Neptunism, Neptunist”).

cog

Near-synonym: Poseidonian

The Tomb disburd'ning, whence the Ghoſt aroſe / Of great Achilles; Such when Thracian Foes / (The Prelude of thy Fates, Troy!) he o'rethrew, / And the white hair'd Neptunian Cycnus [i.e., Neptune's son] ſlew.

1679, Lucius Annaeus Seneca [i.e., Seneca the Younger], translated by Edward Sherburne, Troades: Or The Royal Captives. A Tragedy, Written Originally in Latin, […], London: Printed by Anne Godbid, and John Playford, for Samuel Carr, […], →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 21:

(Roman mythology) Of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon.


meretrix

Nomus Marcellus has pointed out the difference between this class of prostitutes and the prostibula. "This is the difference between a meretrix (harlot) and a prostibula (common strumpet): a meretrix is of a more honorable station and calling; for meretrices are so named a merendo (from earning wages) because they plied their calling only by night; prostibulu because they stand before the stabulum (stall) for gain both by day and night."

a. 100 CE, Petronius, translated by W. C. Firebaugh, Satyricon, published 1922:

Hands grasped me like a doll, and as I dandled thus between the meretrices of Abaia, I was lifted from my broad-armed chair in the inn of Saltus; yet still, for perhaps a hundred heartbeats more, I could not rid my mind of the sea and its green-haired women.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 72:

Of the two ritually important female categories, matrona and meretrix, it was the matrona that was held at a strict ritual distance. […] The domain of the meretrix was not held at a ritual distance. The boundary between male and female was not quite so stark when the female belonged to the category of prostitute.

2013, Ariadne Staples, From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins, Routledge, →ISBN:


comitia

(historical) A popular legislative assembly in ancient Rome.

comicis

a popular legislative assembly in ancient Rome


Jovian

en-adj

Jovian (comparative more Jovian, superlative most Jovian)

more Jovian (comparative)
most Jovian (superlative)

From Latin Iovis, genitive of Iuppiter, analysable as Jove + -ian.

Near-synonym: Zeusian

He did not admit of equals. But as a patron he was superb. With his Jovian air, his colossal condescension, his amused smile, his general suggestion of the god descending to the mortal, he could be quite overpowering in his amiability.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

(Roman mythology) Pertaining to the Roman god Jove or Jupiter (the counterpart of the Greek god Zeus); Jove-like; befitting Jupiter.


amphora

en-noun

amphora (plural amphoras or amphorae or amphorai)

amphoras (plural)
amphorae (plural)
amphorai (plural)

/æmˈfɔ(ː)ɹə/

From Latin amphora (“large wine vessel, Roman unit of liquid measure”), from Ancient Greek ἀμφορεύς (amphoreús, “two-handled pitcher, Greek units of liquid measure”), ultimately from Mycenaean Greek 𐀀𐀠𐀡𐀩𐀸 (a-pi-po-re-we, “carried on both sides”).

der

By concurrent use of panel decoration and concentric-circle ornament, and by free employment of red paint, the fully developed style of the Geometric Period attains a wide range of rich and elaborate effects. These are best displayed on the necks and shoulders of the very large amphorai which are characteristic of this period.

1914, John L[inton] Myres, Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus, New York, N.Y., page 76:

A complete set for a ten-man symposion (an ordinary size) with ten deep cups, ten shallow cups, two mixing-bowls, two wine-jugs, two hydriai, two amphorai would cost in the neighbourhood of forty drachmai, and that would not be an unreasonable price for a rich man for a special occasion.

1973, T[homas] B[ertram] L[onsdale] Webster, Athenian Culture and Society, London: Batsford, →ISBN, page 137:

Traditionally, the style of an artefact has been separated from its function. Thus, the function of a Greek pot – defined in terms of whether it was intended for transportation (hydriai or large amphorai), storage (pithoi and some kraters), distribution (oinokhoai) or consumption (cups, skyphoi and plates) – tends to be treated separately from any painted decoration on its surface.

1997, Jonathan M[ark] Hall, Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 133:

(chiefly historical) A large vessel, especially a thin-necked clay vat used in ancient Greece and Rome for storing and transporting wine and oil.

ܐܘܦܪܐ

large clay vessel used in ancient Greece and Rome for storing wine and oil

(historical) A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of 80 Roman pounds of wine and equivalent to about 26 L although differing slightly over time.

(historical) A Roman unit of ship capacity, similar to tonnage.

(botany) A lower valve of a fruit that opens transversely.


proletariat

/ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/

From French prolétariat (“proletariats as a class; state of being a proletariat”), from Latin prōlētārius (“belonging to the lowest class of citizens, whose only contribution to the state was their offspring; member of this class”) + French -at (suffix denoting actions or the results of actions). Prōlētārius is derived from prōlēs (“offspring, posterity”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, or forming nouns denoting agents of use from other nouns); prōlēs is from pro- (prefix meaning ‘bringing forth or into being; bringing into the open’) + *olēs (a variant of *oleō (“to grow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”)).

proletaro

lowest class of citizens in Ancient Rome and elsewhere

(chiefly Ancient Rome, historical) The lowest class of citizens, who had no property and few rights, and were regarded as contributing only their offspring to the state.


Caesar

From Latin Caesar. Displaced Old English cāsere, which would have yielded *caser, *coser, and Middle English keiser, kaiser, from Old Norse and continental Germanic languages. All ultimately from the same Latin root. (See also Kaiser and tsar.)

The Caesars were an ancient and aristocratic family, which for eight generations had been prominent in the commonwealth.

1891, William Rainey Harper, Herbert Cushing Tolman, Eight Books of Caesar’s Gallic War, New York, N.Y., Cincinnati, Oh., Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company, page 2:

Habel, 63 ff., believes that up to 51 the emperors bestowed priesthoods on the Caesares, using their special power of commendation; but that these Caesares were forced to wait until a place in a college was vacant; that after 51 the Caesares were elected by the senate.

1955, Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome, volume 16, page 100:

To the powerful, the Caesares were flattering, deferential, sincerely devoted, self-sacrificing, loyal, eagerly serving.

1965, Taylor Caldwell, A Pillar of Iron, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 128:

Five of the Caesares were killed during the years 90-85 (D. G., 3, 114).

1975, Collection Latomus, volume 142, page 39:

[…] Off. 1.133 and Att. 13.19.4 do not establish the uterine relationship of Catulus and the Caesares, merely the fact that Catulus and the Caesares were regarded as fratres.

1996, Antichthon, volumes 34–36, page 56:

Of the two plebeian candidates Silanus obviously counted on the assistance of Manlius, who was in office and to whom he was related from the grandfather, but his rival, a Minucius who had become a Marcius, counted on the patrician rival Caesar and on the other consul, L. Aurelius Cotta, because the Caesares were related by marriage both with the Marcii and the Cottae; in fact, Silanus was defeated by their coalition.

1999, Friedrich Münzer, translated by Thérèse Ridley, Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 319:

The Pulchri were a branch of the Clodius family, just as the Caesares were of the Julii.

2000, Richard W[alter] Hooper, Representative Chapters in Ancient History: From Romulus to Justinian, University Press of America, →ISBN, page 542:

He was joined on this commission by C. Caesar Strabo (RE Iulius no. 135), of another branch of the Caesares, who had stressed his heritage by adding the old Julian praenomen Vopiscus (see the cos. 473, MRR 1.29) to his name as a cognomen.

2009, Ernst Badian, “From the Iulii to Caesar”, in Miriam Griffin, editor, A Companion to Julius Caesar, Wiley Blackwell, →ISBN, page 15:

By about the middle of the 2nd cent., the Caesares were claiming descent from *Ascanius and, through him, from his grandmother Venus (see the coins Crawford, RRC 258, 129 bc, and 320, 103 bc, the latter with a symbolic reference to Apollo, the ancient god of the gens).

2012, Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow, editors, The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 755:

An ancient Roman family name, notably that of Julius Caesar.


Ceres

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Ceres.wav

Learned borrowing from Latin Cerēs, goddess of the bounty, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“to grow, to nourish”). More at create.

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of agriculture; equivalent to the Greek goddess Demeter.


centenary

From Latin centēnārius (“containing 100; local official overseeing a hundred”) either directly or via French centenaire, from centēnī (“100 each”) + -ārius (“-ary”), from centum (“hundred”). Doublet of centenarian, centenarize, kantar, and quintal.

doublet

Of or related to the number one hundred, particularly

Lasting or aged 100 years, 100-year-old.

(historical, obsolete) Of or relating to hundreds, the administrative unit.


centenary

(historical) Synonym of hundredman: a position in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms overseeing local administration.


nenia

Nam vinci in amore turpissimum putant, not only living, but when their friends are dead, with tombs and monuments, nenias, epitaphs elegies, inscriptions, pyramids, obelisks, statues, images, pictures, histories, poems, annals, feasts, anniversaries, many ages after (as Plato's scholars did) they will parentare still, omit no good office that may tend to the preservation of their names, honours, and eternal memory.

1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Honest Objects of Love”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

The corpse of L’Escuyer, stretched on a bier, the ghastly head girt with laurel, is borne through the streets; with many-voiced unmelodious Nenia; funeral-wail still deeper than it is loud!

1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Avignon”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book V (Parliament First):

And as I nodded, with forehead propped on my left hand, and the packet of pemmican cakes in my right, there was in my head, somehow, an old street-song of my childhood: and I groaned it sleepily, like coronachs and drear funereal nenias, dirging; and the packet beat time in my right hand, falling and raising, falling heavily and rising, in time.

(Ancient Rome) A funeral song; an elegy.


Uranian

en-adj

Uranian (comparative more Uranian, superlative most Uranian)

more Uranian (comparative)
most Uranian (superlative)

Aphrodite Pandemos
Aphrodite Urania
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs
Louvre
Plato

From Latin Ūrania (“muse of astronomy in Greek mythology”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns). Ūrania is derived from Ancient Greek Οὐρᾰνῐ́ᾱ (Ourănĭ́ā, “muse of astronomy”), from οὐράνιος (ouránios, “of or relating to the sky, celestial, heavenly”) (from οὐρανός (ouranós, “the sky; heaven, home of the gods; the universe”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers- (“rain”)) + -ιος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘pertaining to’).
The alternative form Ouranian is derived from Ancient Greek οὐράνιος (ouránios).
Adjective sense 2 (“homosexual”) and the noun sense (“a homosexual”) refer to Plato’s work Symposium (c. 385–370 B.C.E.), where the goddess Aphrodite, in her heavenly aspect Aphrodite Urania (see adjective sense 3) is described as inspiring a noble form of affection between older and younger men. Compare German Urning (“a homosexual, Uranian”), Urnigtum (“homosexuality”), also referring to Aphrodite Urania, coined by the German writer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895) in 1864. By the 1900s, the use of the word in this sense had largely been supplanted by homosexual (see further at that entry). The term is no longer mainstream and is almost never used in modern contexts, though it has enjoyed a slight revival as a term for "gay man" as an analogue to lesbian.

der

/jʊˈɹeɪnɪən/

For assuredly are there two Venuses; one, the eldest, the daughter of Uranus, born without a mother, whom we call the Uranian; the other younger, the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, whom we call the Pandemian;—of necessity must there also be two Loves, the Uranian and Pandemian companions of these goddesses. [...] [T]he attendant on the other, the Uranian, whose nature is entirely masculine, is the Love who inspires us with affection, and exempts us from all wantonness and libertinism.

a. 1822, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Banquet. Translated from Plato.”, in Mrs. Shelley [i.e., Mary Shelley], editor, Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments, … In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, published 1840, →OCLC, page 86:

That this is indeed the general tendency of his [Pausanias of Athens'] speech is made clear by two remarks that follow immediately upon his differentiating the Pandemian from the Uranian gods. [...] But what is true for Aphrodite seems to be a contradiction in terms: she is both one and two and all gods must be praised—both Uranian and Pandemian—and yet only the Uranian ought to be praised [...].

2010, Steven Berg, “Pausanias: Noble Lies and the Fulfillment of Greekness”, in Eros and the Intoxications of Enlightenment: On Plato’s Symposium (SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Athens and Enlightenment), page 27:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of Aphrodite Urania, the heavenly aspect of the Greek goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart Venus, as contrasted with the earthly aspect known as Aphrodite Pandemos: heavenly, spiritual.


luster

en-verb

luster (third-person singular simple present lusters, present participle lustering, simple past and past participle lustered)

lusters (present singular third-person)
lustering (participle present)
lustered (participle past)
lustered (past)

From Middle French lustre, from Old Italian lustro, from Old Italian lustrare (“brighten”), from Latin lūstrō (“to purify, to brighten”), from Latin lūstrum (“purification ritual”).

(transitive, obsolete) To shed light on, to illustrate, to show.


testudo

en-noun

testudo (plural testudos or testudoes or testudines)

testudos (plural)
testudoes (plural)
testudines (plural)

Unadapted borrowing from Latin testūdō (“tortoise, turtle, lyre, type of military shelter”).

ubor

(Ancient Rome, military, historical) A shelter formed by a body of troops holding their shields or targets close together over their heads.


trophy

→ Japanese: トロフィー (torofī)

→ Korean: 트로피 (teuropi)

→ Malayalam: ട്രോഫി (ṭrōphi)

From Middle French trophée, from Latin trophaeum (“a sign of victory, a monument”), tropaeum, from Ancient Greek τρόπαιον (trópaion, “monument of an enemy's defeat”), from neuter of τροπαῖος (tropaîos, “of defeat”), from τροπή (tropḗ, “a rout, a turning of an enemy”).

трафе́й

object taken by a hunter or conqueror of their success

An animal killed by a trophy hunter that usually has its parts sold on the black market.


Amata

From Latin amāta (“loved, beloved”); feminine perfect passive participle of amāre (“love”). It can also be interpreted as the feminine form of the saint's name Amātus.

(Roman mythology) The wife of Latinus and the mother of Lavinia.


neoteric

From Late Latin neotericus, from Hellenistic Greek νεωτερικός (neōterikós), from comparative of Ancient Greek νέος (néos, “new”).

Among our neoteric verbs, those in -ize are exceedingly numerous.

1873, Fitzedward Hall, Modern English, page 294:

Should it all come crashing in on us . . . will there be enough luddites, whose hands remember, to free us from the chains of neoteric technology?

A few words on the two neoteric terms, cybertext and ergodic, are in order.


neoteric

(historical) any poet who belonged to the neoterics, a series of avant-garde Latin poets who wrote in the 1st century BC such as Catullus, Helvius Cinna, Publius Valerius Cato, Marcus Furius Bibaculus and Quintus Cornificius.


chariot

From Middle English chariot, from Old French chariot, from char (“cart”), from Latin carrus (“wagon”). Displaced native Old English hrædwæġn (literally “fast wagon”).

ncog

A two-wheeled horse-drawn cart, used in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age warfare.


quinquennial

Borrowed from Latin quīnquenniālis, from quīnquennium (“5-year period”) + -ālis, from quīnquennis (“5-year”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”), from quīnque (“five”) + annus (“year”) + -is (suffix forming compound adjectives).

(historical) Synonym of quinquennalia, the festival and religious ritual held in the 5th year of a Roman emperor's reign.


Phoebus

From Middle English Phebus, from Latin Phoebus, from Ancient Greek Φοῖβος (Phoîbos).

By Phœbus, here's a moſt neate fine ſtreete; is't not? I proteſt to thee, I am enamord of this ſtreete now, more then of halfe the ſtreetes of Rome, againe; tis ſo polite, and terſe; […]

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:

The heaven doth not contain so many stars,
So many leaves not prostrate lie in woods,
When autumn’s old and Boreas sounds his wars,
So many waves have not the ocean floods,
As my rent mind hath torments all the night,

17th century, William Drummond, Sextain I, in English Poetry, published 1907, page 162

And heart spends sighs, when Phœbus brings the light.

For she recalled the edict which decreed
If in one day she did not take or kill
The challenger (to this King Charles agreed),
She was his captive and must do his will.
Phoebus was soon to plunge his golden head
Into the western sea when of her skill
And strength the Maid at last began doubt,
While her fatigue was putting hope to rout.[…]

1991 August 29, Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso: Part Two (Orlando Furioso), Penguin UK, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) An epithet and synonym for Apollo; Phoebus Apollo.


Virgil

From Middle English Vyrgyle, from Latin Virgilius, from the Roman clan name Vergilius, from Etruscan and of unknown meaning.

A small town in Beadle County, South Dakota.


genii

On the 11th Century glass bowl above, the painted figures—winged genii, nude athletes and brawny soldiers—resemble mythological characters but may be only lighthearted mimicry of ancient Greek or Roman subjects.

1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 40:

plural of genius
(Roman mythology) Guardian spirits.


Late Latin

As with English, Latin also has historical periods. These are broken into Early Latin (240–70BC); the Golden Age (70BC–AD14); the Silver Age (AD14–130); Late Latin (2nd–6th century); and then Medieval Latin or Low Latin (6th–15th centuries). ]

[ 2007, elizabeth solopova, stuart d. lee, Key Concepts in Medieval Literature, section 2 Old English, sub-section (b) Anglo-Latin Writing

The form of the Latin language used between the 2nd/3rd and 6th centuries.


triumvirate

From Latin triumvīrātus, from triumvirī (“triumvirs”) + -ātus (“-ate”).

An official group of three people, especially a ruling council of three men and particularly (historical) two such councils in Roman history.


Classical Latin

The Latin language as spoken and written in formal speeches, literature, the arts, etc., by the ancient Romans.

لَاتِينِيَّة كْلَاسِيكِيَّة

Latin language as spoken and written formally


aedile

From Latin aedīlis (“commissioner or magistrate”).

bor

Some of these encroachments may have received permission from the town council or the local aediles. A handful of painted notices found on the outside of the Amphitheatre suggest that it was the aediles who authorised the street vendors plying their trade underneath the monument’s arches, and assigned their pitches: ‘By permission of the aediles. Licensed to Caius Aninius Fortunatus’ etc., as the faint and fragmentary Latin seems to say.

2010, Mary Beard, chapter 2, in Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town:

(historical, Ancient Rome) An elected official who was responsible for the maintenance of public buildings, regulation of festivals, supervision of markets and the supply of grain and water.


calends

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-calends.wav

From Middle English calendes, calendas, calendis, kalandes, kalendas, kalendes, kalendez, kalendis, kalendus (also in the singular forms calende, kalend, kalende), from Latin kalendās, accusative plural of kalendae (“first day of a Roman month”), an archaic variant of calandae, from calandus (“which is to be called or announced solemnly”), the future passive participle of calō (“to call, announce solemnly”) (referring to the Roman practice of proclaiming the first days of the lunar month upon seeing the first signs of a new crescent moon), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, cry, summon”). Although the singular form calend (now obsolete, rare) appeared in English (and compare Old English calend, kalendus (“calends; a month”)), no singular form was used in Latin as recurring days of the calendar were always referred to in the plural.
Sense 2 (“a day for settling debts and other accounts”) refers to the Roman practice of fixing the calends as the day for debts to be paid.

nb...

Containing an Account of Their Manners, Customs, Diversions, Religious Rites, Philosophy, Festivals, Oracles, Laws, Arts, Engines of War, Weights, Measures, Money, Medals, Computation and Division of Time, Chronological Terms, Heresies in the Primitive Church, &c. &c.

Often with initial capital: the first day of a month.

(historical, Ancient Rome) The first day of a month of the Roman calendar.


Sylvia

Feminine form of a Medieval form of Silvius, from Latin silva (“forest”). In myths, Rhea Silvia was the mother of famous twins Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. 6th-century saint Silvia was the mother of the pope Gregory the Great.

(Roman mythology) Short for Princess Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome.


Silvius

From Latin Silvius, from silva (“forest”).

(Roman mythology) The son of Ascanius and his wife.


Mithraic

From Mithras + -ic. First attested in English circa 1678. More at Mithras.

[T]hat the Druids deliberately adopted Mithraic, Serapic or other exotic rituals is, to me, unthinkable.

1928, Lewis Spence, Mysteries of Britain, page xii. 249:


Caesarian

From Caesar + -ian, but see also Caesarean section § Etymology.

(British) Alternative spelling of Caesarean.


Auster

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Roman mythology) The god of the south wind.


florin

From Middle English florin, floren, from Old French florin, from Italian fiorino (“little flower”). Doublet of fiorino.

Any of several gold coins once produced in Florence, Italy; model for the other currencies.

ֆլորին

any of several gold coins once produced in Florence, Italy


legate

From late Old English, from Old French legat, from Latin legatus (nominal use of perfect passive participle of lego (“bequeath, send as envoy”)).

Legate, I had the news last night—my cohort ordered home
By ships to Portus Itius and thence by road to Rome.

1911, Rudyard Kipling, “The Roman Centurion’s Song”, in The History of England:

The deputy of a provincial governor or general in ancient Rome.


lustrum

refn

From the collection of the Louvre in Paris, France.

We puſh Time from us, and we wiſh Him back; / Laviſh of Luſtrums, and yet fond of Life; / Life we think long, and ſhort; Death ſeek, and ſhun; […]

1742–1745, [Edward Young], “Night the Second. On Time, Death, Friendship. Humbly Inscrib’d to the Right Honourable the Earl of Wilmington.”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, →OCLC, page 29, lines 172–174:

Thus passed away two lustra of her life, and, as yet, my daughter remained nameless upon the earth. "My child," and "my love," were the designations usually prompted by a father's affection, and the rigid seclusion of her days precluded all other intercourse. Morella's name died with her at her death. Of the mother I had never spoken to the daughter;—it was impossible to speak.

1835 April, Edgar Allan Poe, “Morella”, in The Southern Literary Messenger: Devoted to Every Department of Literature, and the Fine Arts, Richmond, Va.: T. W. White, →OCLC; republished in The Works of Edgar Allan Poe: In Four Volumes, volume I, New York, N.Y.: W. J. Widdleton, publisher, 1849, →OCLC, page 473:

I am hardly, if I do not deceive myself, twenty years old, and already, dearest Rosamunda, there weigh upon my existence twenty lustrums, and of these twenty lustrums I have drunk the bitterness of intranquility even to the dregs, without having done more than touched with my lips the joy of the first days of my childhood beside you.

1852, Adadus Calpe [pseudonym; Antonio Diodoro de Pascual], chapter XIV, in Henry Edgar, transl., The Two Fathers. An Unpublished Original Spanish Work. … Translated into the English Language by the Author, and Henry Edgar. Part Second: Hector Alone, New York, N.Y.: Stringer & Townsend, publishers, […]; George P[almer] Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 189:

Q. Now, sir, if you would be so kind as to guess upon his age. / A. Forty five years are certain. I would guess a lustrum more.

1985, John Fowles, A Maggot, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN:

(by extension, literary) Synonym of quinquennium: Any 5-year period.


cognomen

en-noun

cognomen (plural cognomens or cognomina)

From Latin cognōmen, from con- (“with”) + nōmen (“name; family name”).

af

Julius Caesar's actual name was Gaius Iulius Caesar. Gaius was his praenomen or forename, Iulius his nomen or surname, and Caesar his cognomen, denoting which part of the Iulius family he belonged to.

Roman tradition suggests that he might also have had the cognomen Octavian to indicate his biological family.

2007, David Potter, chapter 1, in The Emperors of Rome, page 36:

"Five hundred years or more afterwards, the family migrated to Rome under circumstances of which no trace remains, and here, probably with the idea of preserving the idea of vengeance which we find set out in the name of Tisisthenes, they appear to have pretty regularly assumed the cognomen of Vindex, or Avenger."

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

(historical) A personal epithet or clan name added to the given name and family name of Ancient Romans.

Cognomen

the third part of the name of a citizen of ancient Rome


consul

From Middle English consul, from Old English consul, from Latin cōnsul.

konsull

official who protects the interests of citizens

(historical) Either of the two heads of government and state of the Roman Republic or the equivalent nominal post under the Roman and Byzantine Empires.

قُنْصُل

either of the two highest-ranking officials of the Roman republic

early modern councilmen of southern France and Catalonia


tribune

From Middle English tribune, from Old French tribun, tribune, from Latin tribunus (“tribune, tribal leader”), from tribus (“tribe”).

der

tribune of the plebs
tribune of the plebs

(historical) An elected official in Ancient Rome, a tribune of the plebs.


oecus

Borrowed from Latin oecus, from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”).

(history) An apartment, room, or hall in an ancient Roman dwelling house.


Mithraism

Translation (1903) of French mithriacisme, as used in 1899 by Franz Cumont as shorthand for "mystères de Mithra". Cumont was convinced that Mithraism was "Roman Mazdaism", hence his (and earlier) treatments of Latin Mithras and Avestan Mithra as synonyms, and the continuing de-inflection of the Latin name (vocative) as French Mithra.

It has left many monuments of itself here in Britain. At Rome the worship was extremely popular, and it may almost be said to have been a matter of chance whether Mithraism should overwhelm Christianity, or whether the younger religion by adopting many of the rites of the older one should establish itself (as it did) in the face of the latter.

1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 41:

"Confirmation is mithraism. So is baptism, only it was blood instead of water. As to the sacrificial meal..." Mason put his fingers in his ears.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

An astrology-based, middle-platonic mystery religion of the 1st-4th century Roman Empire that claimed to have been founded by Zoroaster, admitted only men, and was especially popular among the Roman military.


Mithras

Learned borrowing from Latin Mithras. Doublet of Mehr, mitre, and Mitra.

A Roman god, cult figure of the 2nd-to-4th-century Roman mystery religion known as the "Mysteries of Mithras" (now colloquially Mithraism)


quadrans

From Latin quadrāns. Doublet of quadrant.

A bronze coin of the Roman republic worth one quarter of an as.


Fornax

Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Originally called Fornāx Chemica,
From the Latin for "chemical furnace".

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of ovens.


Horologium

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Horologium.wav

Christian Huygens
Horologium (constellation)
Horologium Oscillitorium
Nicolas Louis de Lacaille
Solarium Augusti
Tower of the Winds

See horologium. As a location in Rome, a clipping of Latin Hōrologium Augustī (“Sundial of Augustus”). As a constellation, a clipping of Latin Hōrologium Oscillitorium (“Pendulum Clock”), coined in 1763 by the French astronomer De Lacaille to honor the Dutch astronomer and mathematician Christian Huygens, who had written a major work by that name.

bor

(historical) Synonym of Solarium, a monument in ancient Rome whose obelisk was once believed to have acted as a sundial gnomon.


sesterce

From Latin sēstertius (“two-and-a-half (asses)”).

Among the people (of Rome) beſide x. modij of corne, & as many pints of oyle, he diſtributed & dealt 300 Seſterces alſo by the poll, vvhich hee had in times paſt promiſed, vvith an overdeale of 100. a peece to boote, for time.

1606, Caius [i.e., Gaius] Suetonius Tranquillus, “The Historie of Caius Iulius Cesar Dictator”, in Philêmon Holland, transl., The Historie of Twelve Cæsars Emperours of Rome. […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes and George Snowdon] for Matthew Lownes, →OCLC, section 38, page 16:

Nonius the senator hath a purple coat as stiff with jewels as his mind is full of vices; rings on his fingers worth 20,000 sesterces […]

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 3:

For him I must convert one of my sheep or goats to sesterces and slaughter another for his entertainment.

1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:


Plutonian

en-adj

Plutonian (comparative more Plutonian, superlative most Plutonian)

more Plutonian (comparative)
most Plutonian (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Latin Plūtōnius (“of or relating to Pluto, Greek and Roman god of the underworld”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives). Plūtōnius is from Ancient Greek Πλουτώνιος (Ploutṓnios, “of or relating to Pluto”), from Πλούτων (Ploútōn, “Pluto”) (from πλοῦτος (ploûtos, “riches, wealth”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to fly; to flow; to run”)) + -ων (-ōn)) + -ιος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Middle French plutonien (modern French plutonien). The noun is derived from the adjective.

plutonien

of, pertaining to, or supporting plutonism — see also Plutonic

[…] he through the midſt unmarkt, / In ſhew Plebeian Angel militant / Of loweſt order, paſt; and from the dore / Of that Plutonian Hall, inviſible / Aſcended his high Throne, […]

1674, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 264:

["]Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore— / Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" / Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 144:

You rise by candle-light or gaslight, swearing / There never was a climate made like ours; / If rashly you go out to take an airing, / The soot-flakes come in black Plutonian show'rs.

1882 December 30, “A London Fog”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume 83, London: Published at the office, 85, Fleet Street, →OCLC, page 301, column 1:

Cotopaxi is striking not only because it looks like a science fiction conception of another planet; it also is the least realistic among [Frederic Edwin] Church's paintings of the area. […] Below the fiery sun is a lake with a barren shore. As such, the sun hangs over a Plutonian landscape.

2008, Rodrigo Lazo, “The Ends of Enchantment: Douglass, Melville, and U.S. Expansionism in the Americas”, in Robert S[teven] Levine, Samuel Otter, editors, Frederick Douglass & Herman Melville: Essays in Relation, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, part I (Literary and Cultural Geographies), page 210:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of or relating to Pluto, the Greek and Roman god of the underworld; demonic, infernal.

Plutoniin liittyvä

of or relating to Pluto, the Greek and Roman god of the underworld


sextans

(Ancient Rome) A Roman coin worth one sixth of an as.


triclinium

en-noun

triclinium (plural tricliniums or triclinia)

Latin trīclīnium, from Ancient Greek τρικλίνιον (triklínion).

Seated on the triclinium in the midst is a middle-aged man, with a high and noble brow; the fine aquiline nose, so patrician, as if their eagle had set his own seal on his warlike race;...

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 259:

(Ancient Rome) A couch for reclining at mealtimes, extending round three sides of a table, and usually in three parts.

(Ancient Rome) A dining room furnished with such a triple couch.


publican

From Middle English publican [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman publican, pupplican, Middle French publicain, and Old French publican, publicain, pupplican (“tax collector”) (modern French publicain), and from their etymon Latin pūblicānus (“tax collector”), from pūblicum (“state revenue”) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, usually indicating relationships of origin, position, or possession). Pūblicum is a noun use of the neuter form of pūblicus (“of or belonging to the people, state, or community; general, public”), ultimately from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”), further etymology unknown.
Sense 3.2 (“person excommunicated from the church; person who does not follow a Christian religion”) refers to Matthew 18:17 of the Bible: see the King James Version quotation under sense 1.
Cognates
* Catalan publicà
* Italian pubblicano
* Middle Dutch publicaen, puppilicaen, pupplicaen (modern Dutch publicaan (obsolete), publikaan)
* Middle High German publicān, publicāne (early modern German Publican).
* Middle Low German pūblicān
* Old Occitan publican, puplican
* Portuguese publicano
* Spanish publicano

ref

The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Luke 19:9–10, column 2: “This day is ſaluation come to this houſe, forſomuch as he alſo is the ſonne of Abraham. For the ſonne of man is come to ſeeke, and to ſaue that which was loſt.”

nb...

publicane, publycan, publycane, pubplican, pubplycan, pupblican, pupblycan, puplican, puplicane, pupplican, pupplicane

Matthevv vvhiche vvas other vvyſe alſo called Leui, beyng of a Puplican made an Apoſtle, firſt of all others compoſed and vvrote in Jevvrye, the ghoſpell of Chriſte in the Hebrue tounge, […]

1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Jerome, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Gospell of Saincte Matthew. The Lyfe of Sainct Matthew […].”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio xix, recto:

[T]he Publicans, that is to ſaye, the cuſtomers and takers vp of tolles, […]

1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The .iii. Chapter.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio xliii, verso:

Hovv like a favvning Publican he lookes.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

[I]f he [a brother who trespasses against one] neglect to heare the Church, let him be vnto thee as an heathen man, and a Publicane.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 18:17, column 1:

[T]here was a man named Zacheus, which was the cheefe among the Publicanes, and he was rich.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 19:2, column 2:

The provinces groaned at once under all the severity of publick imposition, and the rapaciousness of private usury. They were overrun by publicans, farmers of the taxes, agents, confiscators, usurers, bankers, those numerous and insatiable bodies, which always flourish in a burthened and complicated revenue.

1760, Edmund Burke, “An Essay towards an Abridgment of the English History. […]. Chapter III. The Reduction of Britain by the Romans.”, in [Walker King], editor, The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, new edition, volume X, London: […] [R. Gilbert] for C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], published 1826, →OCLC, book I, page 232:

Now, Mrs. Varden, […] believing, moreover, that the publicans coupled with sinners in Holy Writ were veritable licensed victuallers; was far from being favourably disposed towards her visitor.

1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 13.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 5–6:

He brings twelve men with him, fishermen, tillers of the soil, one a publican, all of the humbler class; and he and they make their journeys on foot, careless of wind, cold, rain, or sun.

1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter II, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book eighth, page 486:

(Ancient Rome, historical) A tax collector, especially one working in Judea and Galilee during New Testament times (1st century C.E.) who was generally regarded as sinful for extorting more tax than was due, and as a traitor for serving the Roman Empire.


denarius

/dɪˈnɑːɹɪ.əs/

/dɪˈnɛəɹɪ.əs/

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

Borrowed from Latin dēnārius. Doublet of denar, denier, dinar, diner, dinero, and dinheiro.

doublet

"Sorry, I thought you were Aurel. He owes me a denarius. Have you seen him?"

1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 146:

2007, Philip Matyszak, Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day (title of the book)

(Ancient Rome, numismatics) A small silver coin issued both during the Roman Republic and during the Roman Empire, equal to 10 asses or 4 sesterces. Roughly one day’s wage for a skilled worker.


dupondius

Latin dupondius, literally "two-pounder".

(historical) A bronze coin minted during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, equal to two asses.


quadrigatus

From Latin quadrīgātus, from quadrīgae (“four-horse team”).

A medium-sized silver coin minted by the Roman Republic during the 3rd century B.C..


quinarius

A small silver coin minted during the Roman Republic, equal to half of a denarius.


semuncia

(historical) A bronze coin minted during the Roman Republic, valued at one twenty-fourth of an as.


sestertius

From Latin sēstertius (“that is two-and-a-half”), from sēmis (“half”) + tertius (“third”), in which "third" refers to the third as: the sestertius was worth two full asses and half of a third.

uder

(historical numismatics) A large bronze or (rarely) small silver coin minted during the Roman Republic and Empire, valued at two and a half asses (a quarter of a denarius).


triens

A bronze coin minted during the Roman Republic valued at 4 unciae.


victoriatus

A silver coin, stamped with an image of Victory, minted during the Roman Republic, and valued at half a denarius.


scudo

en-noun

scudo (plural scudos or scudoes or scudi)

scudos (plural)
scudoes (plural)
scudi (plural)

Borrowed from Italian scudo (“a crown, a dollar, a shield”), from Latin scutum (“a shield”). Compare the doublets scute, escudo, scutum, and écu.

bor

Sovereign Military Order of Malta
Sovereign Military Order of Malta

A former unit of currency in Malta, now the official currency of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.


biga

(historical) A Roman racing chariot drawn by two horses abreast.


fiorino

The monetary unit of Tuscany from 1826 to 1859, subdivided into 100 quatrini; a florin.


Pompey

From Middle English Pompey, anglicization of Latin Pompeius.

(historical) Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic.


cardo

Borrowed from Latin cardō (“hinge”). Doublet of kern.

(Ancient Rome) A street that ran north–south, in an Ancient Roman town or city


Ancyra

(historical) The capital city of Galatia


legionary

From legion + -ary. From Latin legiōnārius. Doublet of legionnaire.

Suddenly, [...] he saw all this as romantic — the last legionary, his aloneness, the lost cause really lost — and instinctively he pulled in his paunch, stroked down his hair to cover the naked part of the scalp, and wiped the sweat off his cheeks.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 425:

(military, Ancient Rome) A soldier belonging to a legion; a professional soldier of the ancient Roman army.


clepsydra

en-noun

clepsydra (plural clepsydras or clepsydrae)

From Latin clepsydra, from Ancient Greek κλεψύδρα (klepsúdra), from κλέπτειν (kléptein, “to steal”) + ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”).

"The dull, unflavoured drops from life's clepsydra".

1953, John Wyndham, The Kraken Wakes, page 124:

They sat among the choiring clepsydras of the evening garden, time elapsing in a dozen ways, allowing their cigars to go out, keeping a companionable silence.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 856:

Synonym of water clock, especially (historical) ancient Greek and Roman forms.


frigidarium

Borrowed from Latin frīgidārium, from frīgidus (“cold”). Doublet of frigidaire.

(historical, Ancient Rome) In Ancient Roman baths, a room with a bath of cold water.


Juno

From Middle English Juno, from Latin Iūnō of uncertain origin. One hypothesis is derivation from Proto-Indo-European *dyúh₃onh₂- (“she of heavenly authority”), from *dyew- (“sky, heaven”) + *-Hō (“burden, authority”), reflecting her role as goddess of rulers. Another is derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yúh₃onh₂- (“the young goddess”), from *h₂eyu- (“long time, lifetime”) + *-Hō (“burden, authority”), making it cognate with Latin iuvenis (“young”). Both would have produced the unattested early Latin form *Iuvō, declined with the root Iūn- and eventually normalized to Iūnō.

der

(Roman mythology) The queen of the gods, the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera.


pandect

Antiochus of Palestine
Lawrence Torrentinus
Russian Museum

Sense 3 (“comprehensive treatise”) is from Latin pandectēs (“book that contains everything, encyclopedia”), from Ancient Greek πανδέκτης (pandéktēs, “encyclopedia”, literally “all-receiver”), from παν- (pan-, prefix meaning ‘all’) (from πᾶς (pâs, “all”)) + δέκτης (déktēs, “receiver, recipient”) (from δέχομαι (dékhomai, “to receive”) (from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to take; to perceive”)) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming agent nouns)).
Sense 1 (“compendium of writings on Roman law”) in the plural form Pandects is from Late Latin pandectae (“the Pandects”), the plural of pandectēs, modelled after (Byzantine) Ancient Greek πανδέκται (pandéktai, “the Pandects”), the plural of πανδέκτης (pandéktēs): see further above.

refn

From the collection of the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

der

After upwards of Thirty Years Study, and a painful Induſtry, in compiling A New Pandect or Complete Body of the Roman Civil Law; the Firſt Volume of this Undertaking craves Leave to appear in the World under the Patronage and Protection of your Lordſhip, [...]

1734, John Ayliffe, “[Dedication]”, in A New Pandect of Roman Civil Law, […], London: Printed for Tho[mas] Osborne, […], →OCLC:

And altho' there are many relations of perfect hermaphrodites, creatures that poſſeſſed the power of both ſexes, and could both beget and conceive children, yet theſe relations are treated as fabulous, notwithſtanding ſome laws concerning them are found both in the Roman and Gallic pandect.

1750 January, “We See in a Monthly Book Published at Paris, with the Royal License, an Advertisement with a New Print of a Remarkable and Famous Hermaphrodite, …”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XX, London: Printed by Edw[ard] Cave, […], published January 1755, →OCLC, page 20, column 2:

But the juriſprudence of the Pandects is circumſcribed within a period of an hundred years, from the perpetual edict to the death of Severus Alexander: [...]

1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter XLIV, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume IV, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 361:

And now, upon this third morning after your departure, things are but little better; for though the lamp burns in my den, and Voet on the Pandects hath his wisdom spread open before me, yet as I only use him as a reading-desk on which to scribble this sheet of nonsense to Darsie Latimer, it is probable the vicinity will be of little furtherance to my studies.

1824 June, [Walter Scott], “Letter II. Alan Fairford to Darsie Latimer.”, in Redgauntlet, […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 27:

(Ancient Rome, law, historical) Usually in the plural form Pandects: a compendium or digest of writings on Roman law divided in 50 books, compiled in the 6th century C.E. by order of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I (c. 482–565).


Italianization

/ɪˌtæljənəˈzeɪʃən/

(historical) The forced cultural and ethnic assimilation of minorities in the Kingdom of Italy, with particular reference to the Fascist government (1922–1943).

італьяніза́цыя

process of forced assimilation into the Italian culture


taberna

From Latin taberna. Doublet of tavern and taverna.

(Ancient Rome) A type of shop or stall in Ancient Rome.


vicennial

From vicennium + -al or directly from Latin vīcenniālis, from vīcennium (“20-year span”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjective-forming suffix), from vīcennis (“20-year”) + -ium (“-ium”, suffix forming abstract nouns), from vīciēs (“20 times”) + annus (“year”) + -is (suffix forming compound adjectives). Equivalent to vice- (“twenty”) + -ennial.

The feast of Constantine's vicennials fell on the 25th of July this year: it was the commencement of the twentieth year of his reign. It is supposed, that to avoid interrupting affairs or greater moment, this ceremony was deferred till the end of the council, which broke up the 25th of August.

1776, Charles le Beau, The History of Constantine the Great, page 267:

Roman coins mentioning the vota publica for Macrinus are RIC IV.1 5–13; on vota publica for the decennials and vicennials of emperors in the 2nd and 3rd c. ad, see Chastagnol 1984.

2022, Martin Hallmannsecker, Roman Ionia..., p. 110

(historical) Synonym of vicennalia, the festival and religious ritual held in the 20th year of a Roman emperor's reign.


Dalmatia

From Latin Dalmatia, possibly from an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae who lived in the region.

(historical) A province of the Roman Empire.


franco

From Italian franco (“French”). Doublet of franc and frank.

(historical) A former currency of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy, issued between 1805 and 1808.


hecatomb

The noun is a learned borrowing from Latin hecatombē (“great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb”), from Ancient Greek ἑκατόμβη (hekatómbē, “great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb; any animal sacrifice or large sacrifice”, from ἑκᾰτόν (hekătón, “hundred”) + βοῦς (boûs, “cattle, cow, ox”)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

O be propitious, powerfull God of Arts, / I sheathe my weapons, and doe breake my darts, / Be then appeas'd, I'le offer to thy shrine, / An Heccatombe, of many spotted kine.

1599, W. Kinsayder or Theriomastix [pseudonyms; John Marston], “Satyre. V. Totum in Toto.”, in The Scourge of Villanie. […], London: […] I[ames] R[oberts], →OCLC; republished as G[eorge] B[agshawe] Harrison, editor, The Scourge of Villanie (The Bodley Head Quartos; 13), London: John Lane, The Bodley Head […]; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Company, 1925, →OCLC, page 58:

[B]oth the muſes and the graces are his hard Miſtriſſes, though he daily Invocate them, though he ſacrifize Hecatombs, they ſtil look a ſquint, […]

a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “[Characters.] The True Character of a Dunce.”, in Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, Characters, […], London: […] T. N. for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1652, →OCLC, page 68:

But haſte, conſult vve quick ſome prophet here / […] that vve may learn / By vvhat crime vve have thus incenſed Apollo, / VVhat broken vovv, vvhat hecatomb unpaid / He charges on us, and if ſoothed vvith ſteam / Of lambs and goats unblemiſh'd, he may yet / Be vvon to ſpare us, and avert the plague.

1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book I.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, pages 5–6, lines 74 and 76–81:

[I]n th' olden time / Some sacrifices ask'd a single victim, / Great expiations had a hecatomb.

1821, Lord Byron, Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice. An Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts. […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 18:

[I]t is conceivable that if we were ancients some of us might be offering grateful hecatombs by mistake, and proving our honesty in a ruinously expensive manner.

[1879], George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[Impressions of Theophrastus Such.] The Wasp Credited with the Honeycomb.”, in Impressions of Theophrastus Such, Essays and Leaves from a Note-book, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 107:

For the god they speedily stationed the sacred hecatomb all in good order surrounding the well-built altar.

2007, Homer, “Book 1”, in Rodney Merrill, transl., The Iliad, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 40, lines 447–448:

(Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, historical) A great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.

hecatombe

great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice; great public sacrifice in other religions


Pliny

Ultimately from Latin Plīnius, an Italic name of obscure origin.

The two Plinys, Lucan, (though again under the disadvantage of verse) Petronius Arbiter, and Quintilian, but above all, the Senecas, (for a Spanish cross appears to improve the quality of the rhetorician) have left a body of rhetorical composition such as no modern nation has rivalled.

1828, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 24, number 147:

Of Q. Curtius, the Demosthenes (both), Eutropius, Horace (first with a date), Homer, Justin, Livy, the two Plinies, Quintilian, Martial, Tacitus, and Virgil, the first editions; but my friend must not be allowed to have a succession of nights of undisturbed repose till he possesses the first Horace, and the first Roman edition of Virgil.

1836, Thomas Frognall Dibdin, Reminiscences of a Literary Life:

I will leave off all my childish fooleries and diversions, and set about studying with such a rage, that when you come back next year, you may find the tongue I have now in my mouth more forky than that of some serpents mentioned by Pliny the naturalist.

a. 1776, Joseph Baretti, “Dialogue the Fortieth”, in Easy Phraseology for the Use of Those Persons Who Intend to Learn the Colloquial Part of the Italian Language, 1835 edition, Turin: Joseph Bocca, page 236:

Pliny the Elder, Gaius Plinius Secundus (23–79 AD): an ancient Roman nobleman, scientist and historian, author of Naturalis Historia, "Pliny's Natural History".

Pliny the Younger, Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (63–circa 113): an ancient Roman statesman, orator, and writer, a great-nephew of Pliny the Elder.


praenomen

en-noun

praenomen (plural praenomens or praenomina)

From Latin praenōmen, from prae- (“pre-: before”) + nōmen (“name, family name”).

In the name Tyrannosaurus rex, "Tyrannosaurus" is the praenomen.

(zoology) The genus name in a binomial scientific name.


procurator

/ˈpɹɑkjəˌɹeɪtɚ/

/ˈpɹɒkjʊˌɹeɪtə/

Anglo-Norman procuratour, from Latin prōcūrātor, from prōcūrō (“I procure”) (English procure). Equivalent to procure + -ator.

следовател

legal officer in communist country collector

(Ancient Rome) The governor of a small imperial province.

прокуратор

Ancient Rome: governor of small province


convivium

(ecology) A geographically isolated population of a species that shows differentiation from other populations of the same species; becomes a subspecies or ecotype


carene

From Latin carēnum or caroenum, from Ancient Greek κάροινον (károinon), q.v.

(historical cooking, rare, obsolete) Synonym of carenum: a reduction of must or sweet wine in ancient European cuisine.


Praetorian

(historical, Ancient Rome) A member of a special bodyguard force used by Roman emperors, their symbol being the scorpion.


cyathus

From Latin cyathus, from Ancient Greek κύαθος (kúathos, “ladle”), of uncertain origin. Doublet of kyathos.

(historical) A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of 1⅔ Roman ounce of wine and equivalent to about 45 mL although differing slightly over time.

Synonym of ladle, especially (historical) a small one used for serving wine in ancient Greece and Rome.

ladle

(historical) Synonym of kyathos (“an ancient ladle and serving beaker”).


retiarius

/ˌɹɛ.tɪˈɑː.ɹɪ.əs/

/ˌɹɛ.tɪˈɛː.ɹɪ.əs/

(Ancient Rome, gladiatorial combat) A gladiator who uses a casting net (a rete or iaculum) as a weapon.


lunula

lunula (plural lunulae or (archaic) lunulæ)

lunulae (plural)
lunulæ (archaic plural)

(Ancient Rome, historical) A crescent moon-shaped pendant worn by girls in Ancient Rome.


princeps

Borrowed from Latin prī̆nceps (“first, foremost”). Doublet of prince and principe.

bor+

Its special characteristics were that the princeps was not governed by any law of procedure or confined to a particular place of judgment and, moreover, had complete freedom in the composition of his consilium.

1984, Karl Christ, The Romans: An Introduction to Their History and Civilisation, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 126:

(Ancient Rome) Title of the Roman emperor during the principate.


Aesculapius

Learned borrowing from Latin Aesculāpius.

lbor

(Roman mythology) The god of medicine and healing. Greek counterpart: Asclepius.


balteus

Borrowed from Latin balteus (“belt, girdle”).

bor+

(Ancient Rome) A swordbelt worn by Roman legionaries.


optimate

From Latin optimātēs, masculine plural form of optimās (“best, noblest”).

The elaboration of her sateen costume (somewhat dirty and torn now) showed that she was an optimate.

1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XII, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 112:

Over the same decade, the upper stratum of Visigothic society, the optimates gradually lost their influence.

2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 23:

(historical) A member of the patrician ruling class in republican Ancient Rome; an aristocrat, a noble.


Maia

(Roman mythology) The goddess of growth after whom the month May (Latin maius) was named.


consulship

en-noun

consulship (countable and uncountable, plural consulships)

The office of a consul, in its various senses.


the die is cast

/ðə ˌdaɪ ɪz ˈkɑːst/

Calque of Latin iacta ālea est, a grammatically, and thereby semantically, incorrect translation by the Roman historian Suetonius (c. 69 – p. 122 C.E.) in his work Vīta Dīvī Iūlī (On the Life of the Caesars, 121 C.E.) of the Ancient Greek ἀνερρίφθω κύβος (anerrhíphthō kúbos), which was said to have been spoken by Julius Caesar (100 – 44 B.C.E.) when he crossed the Rubicon to irreversibly begin a civil war in the Roman Republic (see cross the Rubicon).
Caesar was quoting from the comedy Ἀρρηφόρῳ (Arrhēphórōi, The Bearer of Ritual Objects) by the dramatist Menander (c. 342 or 341 – c. 290 B.C.E.). The Greek phrase is more accurately translated as “let the die be cast” (meaning “let the game be played” and implying “let us proceed irreversibly”), and refers a game of chance in which the outcome is determined by the throwing of dice or a single die.

noncog

ἀνερρίφθω κύβος

nb...

With an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin.

lang

Ἑλληνιστὶ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας ἐκβοήσας, ‘Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος,’ διεβίβαζε τὸν στρατόν.

Δειπνοσοφισταί

Δειπνοσοφισταί

Δεδογμένον τὸ πρᾶγμ’ · ἀνερρίφθω κύβος

Δεδογμένον τὸ πρᾶγμ’ · ἀνερρίφθω κύβος

nb...

par Athénéé, Traduit, tant sur les Textes imprimés, que sur plusieurs Manuscrits, par M. Lefebvre de Villebrune.

Is the die caſt, muſt / At this one throvv all thou haſt gaind be loſt? / The VVorlds a Lott'ry; He that dravves may vvin: / VVho nothing ventur's, looks for nothing;[…]

[1634, H. H., “[Dedication by H. H.]”, in T[homas] H[erbert], A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC:

The die is cast. I cannot go back. I must get ready. Will you see me to the station?

1879, George Meredith, “At the Railway Station”, in The Egoist: A Comedy in Narrative. […], volume II, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], →OCLC, page 188:

you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube

(idiomatic) Conclusive action has been taken, so events will proceed in an irreversible manner; the point of no return has been passed; the future is determined; there are no more options.

Athenaeus
Bernadotte Perrin
Harvard University Press
Julius Caesar
Loeb Classical Library
Menander
On the Life of the Caesars
Suetonius

سبق السيف العذل

conclusive action has been taken, so events will proceed in an irreversible manner

木已成舟 (mùyǐchéngzhōu, literally “the wood has already been made into a boat”)


ludus

"[…] and I'd just as soon not set foot in another ludus." "I've had my fill of ludi, believe me," he mutters. "But I've falsified a life before. I can do it again." Then he smiles. "I hear Rome is lovely." I wrinkle my nose . " I'd rather live in Pompeii's sewer[…]"

2016 November 6, Ann Gallagher, The Left Hand of Calvus: M/M Trans Historical Romantic Suspence, GallagherWitt, →ISBN:

(historical, Ancient Rome) A school, in particular:

A school, in particular:
A gladiatorial training school.

[…] the routine of the Roman ludus emphasized strenuous discipline and corporal punishment. An institution for developing the skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, the ludus was attended by children from the ages of seven through twelve.

1994 December 14, Gerald L. Gutek, A History of the Western Educational Experience: Second Edition, Waveland Press, →ISBN, page 63:

A private school for teaching children reading, writing, arithmetic, and sometimes Greek.


ithyphallic

en-adj

ithyphallic (comparative more ithyphallic, superlative most ithyphallic)

more ithyphallic (comparative)
most ithyphallic (superlative)

/ˌɪθɪˈfælɪk/

/ˌɪθɪˈfælɪk/

Borrowed from Late Latin ithyphallicus, from Ancient Greek ἰθυφαλλικός (ithuphallikós), from ῑ̓θῠ́φαλλος (īthŭ́phallos, “phallus carried in festivals of Bacchus; ode sung in honour of the phallus; dance accompanying such an ode; dancer performing such a dance”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). ῑ̓θῠ́φαλλος is derived from ἰθῠ́ς (ithŭ́s) (variant of εὐθῠ́ς (euthŭ́s, “straight”)) + φαλλός (phallós, “penis; image of a penis, phallus”). The English word can be analysed as ithyphallus + -ic.
As regards the noun, compare Latin ithyphallicum (“poem with the same metre as the hymns to Priapus”).

refn

From the collection of the Museum of London in London, England, UK.

cog

The title ΣΟΤΗΡ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ upon the composite priapic figure published by La Chausse is well known; and it is probable that the ithyphallic ceremonies, which the gross flattery of the degenerate Greeks sometimes employed to honor the Macedonian princes, had the same meaning as this title of Saviour, which was frequently conferred upon, or assumed by them.

1822 June, R. P. Knight, “An Inquiry into the Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology”, in The Classical Journal, volume XXV, number L, London: Printed by A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […]; sold by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown [et al.], →OCLC, part VI, paragraph 138, page 243:

In late classical and Hellenistic times the theatre could be the site of a prolonged and climactic performance by phallic choruses: Hyperides mentions the ithyphalloi dancing in the orchestra and Semos' account of both ithyphalloi and phallophoroi focuses on the moment that the choruses enter the theatre. But the ithyphalloi remained primarily processional and non-theatrical, as is clear from Demochares' account of the ithyphallic procession to meet Demetrius the Besieger.

2013, Eric Csapo, “Comedy and the Pompe: Dionysian Genre-crossing”, in E[mmanuela] Bakola, L[ucia] Prauscello, M[ario] Telò, editors, Greek Comedy and the Discourse of Genres, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 67–68:

(historical, Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to the erect phallus that was carried in bacchic processions.

Ithyphallic verse, which, because it consists of one periodic order, ought to have all pure trochees, and admits no other foot, except a tribrach, […] and that scarcely in the last place, because the rhythm ought to be more remiss at the end, is used chiefly by lyric poets in place of an epode.

1830, [Johann Gottfried Jakob] Hermann, “Of Ithyphallic Verse”, in John Seager, transl., Hermann’s Elements of the Doctrine of Metres, Abridged and Translated into English, London: Printed by A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […]; sold by Longman & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, § 131, page 29:

Archilochus and other writers of epodes frequently use the ithyphallic in distich composition, and in asynartete verses as the closing rhythm. The ithyphallic occurs sometimes in the beginning, or middle, […]

1844, Edward Munk [i.e., Eduard Munk], “Rhythms, the Fundamental Foot of which is Tripletimed; the Double or Trochaic-Iambic Class”, in Charles Beck, C[ornelius] C[onway] Felton, transl., The Metres of the Greeks and Romans. A Manual for Schools and Private Study. Translated from the German, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, part II (The Application of the Laws of Rhythm to Poetry by the Greeks and Romans), section I (Simple Rhythms), page 70:

(specifically) Of a poem or song: having the metre of an ode sung in honour of the bacchic phallus.


regio

Learned borrowing from Latin regiō. Doublet of region.

The British School has unearthed a city of continuous houses, more than 400 feet long by 350 broad, whose many blocks or "insul[ae]" might seem almost to need the more elaborate grouping of the "regiones" of Pompeii.

1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 27:


Aborigines

Learned borrowing from Latin aborīginēs, which see for more.

(Roman mythology) The earliest inhabitants of central Italy, from whom the Latins were said to have descended.

aborígines

the earliest inhabitants of central Italy


Laverna

(Roman mythology) A goddess of thieves and impostors.


lectica

From Latin lectica (“litter”), from lectus (“bed, couch”) + -ica (“forming related nouns”), q.v.

(historical) A kind of Roman litter, typically with bedding, curtains, and four legs.


Liber

(Roman mythology) A god of viticulture and wine, as well as male fertility and freedom.


praetorian

/pɹɪˈtɔːɹiən/

From Middle English pretorian, from Latin praetōriānus.

praetorian guard: the bodyguard of the emperor in Ancient Rome

(Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to a praetor.

The praetorian gate was directly in front of the general's tent, and nearest to the enemy.

(Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to the pretorium in an ancient Roman camp.

praetorian guard

Hey, sir? Sir, excuse me?” The blonde was calling out to him, in imperious tones that insisted on a reply. Her satraps became watchful, like a Praetorian guard.

2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4:

(Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to the special bodyguard force used by Roman emperors.


praetorian

/pɹɪˈtɔːɹiən/

I am so rich, I could have given bid for bid with the wealthiest Prætorians at the auction of the Roman empire (which was the world’s); and yet I owe for the flesh in the tongue I brag with.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 108, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

(Ancient Rome) A praetor; a person of praetorian rank.

Durry's work is still cited as the definitive study of the praetorians, and in fact most modern scholarship on the praetorians is based on material from his work.

2013, Sandra Bingham, The Praetorian Guard, I.B.Tauris, page 6:

(Ancient Rome) Alternative letter-case form of Praetorian (“member of a special bodyguard force used by Roman emperors”).


praetor

From Middle English pretour, pretor, from the Anglo-Norman pretour, pretore, the Middle French preteur (from the Old French pretor; compare the Modern French préteur), and their etymon, the Classical Latin praetor (“leader”, “commander”, “magistrate”); the Latin praetor being contracted from *praeitor (“one who goes before”), from praeeō (“I go before”), from prae (“before”) + eō (“I go”); compare the Italian pretore, the Portuguese pretor, and the Spanish pretor.

der

prætor [16th–19th centuries, now archaic]

pretor [15th–17th centuries, 20th century–present]

(history) The title designating a Roman administrative official whose role changed over time:

(originally) A consul in command of the army.

praetor peregrīnus
praetor peregrinus#Latin

(after 366 BC) An annually-elected curule magistrate, subordinate to the consuls in provincial administration, and who performed some of their duties; numbering initially only one, later two (either of the praetor urbānus (“urban praetor”) or the praetor peregrīnus (“peregrine praetor”)), and eventually eighteen.

(historical, translating Italian "pretore") The title of the chief magistrate, the mayor, and/or the podestà in Palermo, in Verona, and in various other parts of 17th- and 18th-century Italy.


vexillation

A company of soldiers (especially in ancient Rome) grouped under the same flag.


decennials

en-noun

decennials pl (normally plural, singular decennial)

(historical) Synonym of decennalia, the festivals and religious rituals held in the 10th year of a Roman emperor's reign.


Discordia

(Roman mythology) The goddess of discord, confusion, and strife.


Aeneid

From Latin Aeneis (Greek third declension, genitive Aeneidos).

A classic epic poem, written in Latin by Virgil in the 1st century BCE (between 29 and 19 BCE), that tells the legendary story of Aeneas fleeing Troy and settling in Italy as ancestor of the Romans.

Էնեական

Classic epic poem that tells the story of Aeneas fleeing Troy and settling in Italy.


Reds

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin russātī (“Reddish-Brown-Clads”) or factio russata (“the reddish-brown-clad faction”) and Byzantine Greek Ῥούσιοι (Rhoúsioi, “Reds”).

bor

(informal, politics) Synonym of Communist Party in various contexts.


Pontus

From Latin Pontus, from Ancient Greek Πόντος (Póntos, “Black Sea, Pontus”), from πόντος (póntos, “sea”), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀵 (po-to). Doublet of pons.

Pont

a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea

(historical) A province of the Roman Empire covering the area of the ancient kingdom.


Pax Romana

Learned borrowing from Latin Pāx Rōmāna, from pāx (“peace”) + Rōmāna (“Roman”), apparently coined by Seneca the Younger in 55 CE and popularized in English by Edward Gibbon in his c. 1776 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

(historical) The long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman Empire between 27 BCE and 180 CE.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire


Quinquatria

An ancient Roman festival in honour of Minerva.


Lares

en-noun

Lares pl (normally plural, singular Lar)

From Latin Lares, plural form of lār, from Etruscan [Term?].

Coordinate term: lemures

(Roman mythology) The household deities watching over one's family and tutelary deities watching over some public places.


buccina

Borrowed from Latin būcina, buccina. Doublet of buisine and posaune.

Coordinate term: buisine

(historical, music) A curved brass instrument used by the Ancient Roman army.


Romanist

This is enough & too much, that when the Romaniſts doe boaſt that their iuriſdiction is ſpirituall, it is eaſy to ſhewe that there is nothing more contrary to the order inſtitute of Chriſte, and that it hath no more likeneſſe to the auncient cuſtome than darkneſſe hath to light.

1587 [1536], John Calvin, translated by Thomas Norton, The Institution of Christian Religion, London: H. Midleton, translation of Institutio Christianae Religionis (in Latin), page 406:

In quarrels with the Pope if the Clergy ſhould diſown to be ſubject to that temporal Prince who conteſts with him, if they refuſe to contribute for the defence of the Nation, if they foment any ſecret deſigns at the Popes command, then the ſtricteſt Romaniſt would preſently ſee the inſecurity of that Kingdom.

1674, William Squire, Some more Considerations proving the Unreasonableness of the Romanists in Requiring us to Return to the Communion of the Present Romish-Church, H.M., pages 112-113:

The manner of the Romanists however hanging their Churches with red Damask, & making Musick in a regular Orchestra there—is a despicable Effort—and defeats its own purpose completely, by turning the house of God into a Theatre […].

1786 June 27, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Thraliana:

The principal magazines devoted to the subject are—Jahrbuch für romanische und englische Literatur (ed. Wolff, Ebert, and Lembcke), later only für romanische Literatur; Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen (ed. Herrig), of a more popular character; Romania (a quarterly, ed. Gaston Paris and Paul Meyer, since 1872), contains ariticles of the most eminent Romanists; Revue des Langues Romanes (Montpellier, from 1870 onwards), chiefly devoted to Provençal; Romanische Studien (ed. Boehmer); Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie (ed. Gröber, since 1877); and Romanische Forschungen (ed. Vollmöller, since 1884).

1886, Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 20, PRU-ROS, page 668:

(humanities) A scholar of Romance languages; a Romanicist.

(historical, Ireland, derogatory) someone perceived to be in favor of Rome Rule in Ireland.


Romanist

en-adjective

Romanist (comparative more Romanist, superlative most Romanist)

more Romanist (comparative)
most Romanist (superlative)

The 'Germanist' view has been countered with the 'Romanist' or 'continuity' view, which holds that the Germanic barbarians created little that was new.

2005 [1995], “The Barbarian invasions”, in The New Cambridge Medieval History (The New Cambridge Medieval History), volume 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 36:

(historiography) Pertaining to the school of thought which emphasises the continuity of legal and cultural institutions between Rome and later medieval Europe, downplaying the role of external influences or innovation in the decline of the Roman Empire.


cognatus

Learned borrowing from Latin cognatus (“kinsman”). Doublet of cognate and connate.


crepida

Learned borrowing from Latin crepida, from Ancient Greek κρηπίς (krēpís). Doublet of crepis.

There was likewise found an abundant variety of shoes; the heavy caliga, or sandal, worn by the Roman soldiers, studded under the sole with large-headed nails, the calceus or buskin (3) and the more delicate crepida (4), or slipper looped in the leather on each side of the instep, in like manner with the buskin.

1854, “Ancient London.—No. IX.”, in The Home Friend; A Weekly Miscellany of Amusement and Instruction, volume IV, number 91, London: […] Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge […], pages 300–301:

The museum, though small, contains some very interesting objects classified in groups. In one case are Roman and other shoes, sandals, and crepidæ; […]

1866 July 20, “The Annual Congress of the Archæological Institute”, in The Building News and Engineering Journal: […], volume XIII, London: […] Proprietor of the “Building News,” [John Passmore Edwards] […], page 484, column 3:

The sole of the crepida was usually thick and leather covered the sides and heel of the foot. The crepida, considered the shoe for traveler, young man and warrior, varied in style for civilian and soldier.

1948, R[uth] Turner Wilcox, “Roman Footwear”, in The Mode in Footwear, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons; London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, Ltd, page 31:

What restlessness could have made the goddess trample the earth so fast under the crepidae twisted up on her legs like the sandals of our Romanian frontier guards.

1984, Romanian Review, volume 38, page 74:

Crepidae often covered the foot up to or including the ankle, and they sometimes covered the toes, not a regular feature of the sandal. An excellent example of crepidae with high layered, multicolored soles is depicted in the room of the initiation in the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii, as worn by Ariadne.

1994 December, Norma Goldman, “Roman Footwear”, in Judith Lynn Sebesta, Larissa Bonfante, editors, The World of Roman Costume (Wisconsin Studies in Classics), Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, published 2001, →ISBN, part I (Roman Garments, Hairstyles, Accessories), page 114, column 1:

He had even been known to go out and about dressed in ancient Macedonian style to mimic his hero – the flat kausia hat and the crepidae shoes.

2019, Alex Gough, Emperor’s Knife (The Imperial Assassin; 2), London: Canelo, published 2022, →ISBN:

(Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome) A type of footwear consisting of a sole attached to the foot with fairly elaborate straps, distinguished by the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans from sandals proper but now usually considered a style of sandal.


Silvanus

From Latin Silvanus, a Latin cognomen, from silva (“forest”). The name Silas, from the early Christian apostle, was Latinised as Silvanus by Paul.


Laetitia

(Roman mythology) The goddess of gaiety.


latifundium

From Latin lātifundium, from lātus (“wide, extensive”) + fundus (“ground, base, estate, farm”).

The conclusive military victory of Philip V left the grandees stranded, still rich and still powerful on their latifundia, but stripped of the ‘aristocratic republicanism’ they had previously enjoyed.

2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2008, page 251:

His vision for the future of the African continent in the Age of the Aerotropolis seems to be as a vast latifundium sown with GM wheat.

2011, Will Self, “The frowniest spot on Earth”, in London Review of Books, XXXIII.9:

(chiefly in the plural) A great landed estate with absentee ownership and labor often in a state of partial servitude.

latifundium

great land estate with absentee ownership


lustrate

en-verb

lustrate (third-person singular simple present lustrates, present participle lustrating, simple past and past participle lustrated)

lustrates (present singular third-person)
lustrating (participle present)
lustrated (participle past)
lustrated (past)

From Latin lustrātus (“lustrated”), perfect passive participle of lustrō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from lustrum (“ritual purification”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), q.v. In reference to imparting luster, further via senses of Middle French lustre, from Old Italian lustro.

af

We must purge, and cleanse, and lustrate the whole city.

c. 1650, Henry Hammond, Miscellaneous Theological Works..., Vol. 3, Sermon 23, p. 503 (1850 ed.)

"Well," said Hypatia, more and more listlessly; "it might be more prudent to show them first the fairer and more graceful side of the old Myths... I wish to lustrate them afresh for the service of the gods."

1853, Charles Kingsley, chapter 20, in Hypatia:

Mid-zenith hangs the fascinated day
In wind-lustrated hollows crystalline.

1909, Edith Wharton, “An Autumn Sunset”, in Artemis to Actaeon and Other Poems:

(transitive) Synonym of purify, to ritually cleanse or renew, particularly to do so with a propitiatory offering or (historical) the lustration, quinquennial ritual of the Roman censor to cleanse the city after a census.


Romulus

(Roman mythology) The legendary founder of Rome and the twin brother of Remus.


Remus

(Roman mythology) The legendary founder of Rome and the twin brother of Romulus.


duumvir

One of two persons jointly exercising the same office in Republican Rome.


duumvirate

From Latin duumvirātus, from duumvir + -ātus. Equivalent to duumvir + -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office, here the group of people involved with it).

(historical) Any of several offices of the Roman Republic held by two joint magistrates known as duumvirs.


Lavinia

Latin Lavinia, of obscure meaning. Lavinium was a town in ancient Latium.

(Roman mythology) The daughter of Latinus and wife of Aeneas.


Ancient Rome

The civilization associated with Rome from the 9th century BCE to the 5th century C.E. and the Roman Empire centered on it.

Roma e lashtë

civilization associated with Rome from the 9th century BC to the 5th century AD


Capitoline

From Latin Capitolīnus (adj. & n.), from Capitolium (“Capitoline Hill”) + -inus (“-ine: forming adjectives”), from the oblique stem of caput (“head”) + -ō (“forming nouns”) or -ōlus (“-ole: forming diminutives”) + -ium (“forming location names”).

Capitoline Hill
Constantine the Great
Museum of Roman Civilization

He said to meet him on the Capitoline.

Synonym of Capitoline Hill, the highest of the seven hills of Rome.


coronato

(historical) An old silver coin of 15th-century Italy, introduced during the reign of Ferdinand I of Aragon.


quadriga

en-noun

quadriga (plural quadrigae or quadrigas)

From Latin quadrīgae, literally "four yoked", from quattuor (“four”) + iugum (“yoke”).

(historical) A team of four horses, or sometimes other animals, especially as used in chariot racing.


Aurelian

From Latin Aurelianus, derivative of the gens name Aurelius (“golden”).

A male given name from Latin, of mostly historical use in English.


Avernus

From Latin Avernus, from Ancient Greek ἄορνος (áornos), ἄϝορνος (áwornos, “birdless”), from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + ὄρνις (órnis, “bird”). The lack of birds was likely due to fatal gases like carbon dioxide seeping from the volcanically active lake.

His fiery eies are fixt vpon the earth.
As if he now deuiſ’d some Stratageme:
Or meant to pierce Auernus darkſome vauts.
To pull the triple headed dog from hell.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

The entrance to Hell or the underworld, or the underworld itself.


nundine

From Latin nundinae (“ninth-days”), a clipped form of nundinae feriae (“ninth-day festivals”), from its observance every eighth day (9 counting inclusively) and from the Latin practice of treating most recurring calendrical days as plurals.

A market or fair held every eight days, particularly (historical) in Roman contexts.


Valerius

"Here you are!" said George, pointing with his cigar. "Cato - Publius Valerius by Virgil out of Lydia. That's what you want. Publius Valerius is Christian enough."
Dartie, on arriving home, had informed Winifred. She had been charmed. It was so 'chic'. And Publius Valerius became the baby's name, though it afterwards transpired that they had got hold of the inferior Cato. In 1890, however, when little Publius was nearly ten, the word 'chic' went out of fashion, and sobriety came in; Winifred began to have doubts. They were confirmed by little Publius himself, who returned from his first term at school complaining that life was a burden to him - they called him Pubby. Winifred - a woman of real decision - promptly changed his school and his name to Val, the Publius being dropped even as an initial.

1920 John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga: In Chancery:I: Chapter 2

A male given name from Latin of mostly historical use in English.


exode

(historical, Ancient Rome) A comic afterpiece, either a farce or a travesty.


pomerium

/pəʊ̆ˈmɪə.ɹɪ.əm/

From Latin pōmoerium, pōmērium (“the religious boundary of a city”), either from post (“behind”) + moerus, mūrus (“wall”) + -ium (neuter form of -ius (adjective-forming suffix)), or derived from an Etruscan word.

Nay Sidonius Apollinaris aſſures us farther, that the Place where St. Peter was buried, tho' there was then a Church built over it, was ſtill in his Time, An. 470. without the Pomœria, or Space before the Walls of Rome. For ſpeaking of his Journey to Rome, he ſays, before ever he came at the Pomœria of the City, he went and ſaluted the Church of the Apoſtles, which ſtood in the Via Triumphalis.

1722, Joseph Bingham, “Of Cemeteries,or Burying-Places, with an Enquiry, How and When the Custom of Burying in Churches First Came In”, in Origines Ecclesiasticæ: Or, The Antiquities of the Christian Church. …, volumes X (Giving an Account of Funeral Rites, or the Custom and Manner of Burying the Dead, Observed in the Ancient Church. With a Particular Enquiry, How and When the Custom of Burying in Churches First Came In), London: Printed for R. Knaplock at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, →OCLC, book XXIII (Of Funeral Rites, or the Custom and Manner of Burying the Dead, Observed in the Ancient Church), page 7:

But to return to the point from which I digressed, and to illustrate how some people spend useless efforts on these same topics, the man I referred to reported that Metellus in his triumph, after conquering the Carthaginians in Sicily, alone among all the Romans had 120 elephants led before his chariot, and that Sulla was the last of the Romans to have extended the pomerium, [footnote: The religious boundary of a city.] which it was the ancient practice to extend after acquiring Italian, but never provincial territory. Is it better to know this than to know that the Aventine Hill, as he asserted, is outside the pomerium for one of two reasons, either because the plebs withdrew to it or because when Remus took the auspices there the birds had not been favourable – and countless further theories that are either false or very close to lies?

1997, [Lucius Annaeus] Seneca; C. D. N. Costa, editor and transl., “On the Shortness of Life”, in Dialogues and Letters (Penguin Classics), London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-044679-1; extracted as On the Shortness of Life (Great Ideas; 1), London: Penguin Books, 2004, ISBN 978-0-141-01881-2, page 22

The myth [of Romulus and Remus] insisted on the exclusion of the Aventine from the boundary of the pomerium, emphasizing that it was a place apart from Rome proper, even if closely related to the city's sacred enclosure. And at the end of this episode, the killing of Remus underlined the sanctity of the city's boundary, dearer than any brother. The myth presents a definition of Rome. The pomerium had a physical presence too. In the imperial period it was clearly marked by massive blocks of stone, 2 m. tall and 1 m. square.

1998, Mary Beard, John North, Simon Price, “The Place of Religion: Rome in the Early Empire”, in Religions of Rome, volume 1 (A History), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 177:

(historical) The ritually established and sacred formal boundary of the territory of a Roman city; the territory thus bound.

Giovanni Paolo Panini
National Museum of Ancient Art

pomério

tract of land denoting the formal, sacral ambit of a Roman city


cotyle

cotyle (plural cotyles or cotylae or cotylai)

cotyles (plural)
cotylae (plural)
cotylai (plural)

From Latin cotylē and Ancient Greek κοτύλη (kotúlē, “cup, half-pint”). Doublet of kotyle and kotylos.

der

[…] which is often falsely called Corinthian, but is really either Attic or Attico-Boeotian: the vases are mostly cups like this, or cotylai: a few examples, the cups Athens 649 and 1106, the cup B.M. 1920, 2-16, 1, and a cotyle in Cambridge.

1973, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, volumes 47–48, page 148:

(chiefly historical) Alternative form of kotyle (“cantharus, a kind of ancient Greek and Roman cup”).

kotyle

Again, they give the patient a cotyle of hulwort, clary seed, or caper root with half a drachm of squill; or an acetabulum of germander or thyme in three cyathi of oxymel; or two cotylae of alexanders seed with three cyathi of wine; or a cotyle of fennel seed and libanotis (Latin rosmarinum, ‘rosemary’) mixed with wine; or a drachm of gum ammoniac with three cyathi of oxymel.

1950, Caelius Aurelianus, translated by Israel Edward Drabkin, On Acute Diseases and On Chronic Diseases, University of Chicago Press, page 749:

(historical) Synonym of hemina (“a unit of Roman liquid measure”)

(zootomy) Synonym of acetabulum (“any of various cup-shaped joints, organs, or skin features in various animals”).


saturnal

From Latin saturnalis, itself from the Roman god Saturnus + -alis '-al'.

This increased period extends in the trans-Saturnal sphere of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

2004, Mantak Chia, Dirk Oellibrandt, Taoist Astral Healing: Chi Kung Healing Practices Using Star and Planet Energies, →ISBN, page 92:

(Roman mythology, astrology) Of or pertaining to the Ancient Roman god Saturn or to the corresponding planetary entity in astrology.


imbrex

(archaeology) A roof tile common in Ancient Greek and Roman architecture, used in an overlapping formation with the tegula.


Old Italian

Old + Italian, on the pattern of Old English

The theory that there was a spontaneous development of an obscure vowel in final position on certain occasions in Old Italian has gained general currency and has been carried on in the works of the main authorities.

1938, George Melville Bolling, Bernard Bloch, Language, volume 14, Linguistic Society of America, page 224:

[… T]his configuration, in which the infinitive clause is a prepositional complement of a noun, could not be found in the documentary evidence of (Tuscan) Old Italian. Another diverging property in this example is the preverbal subject after prepositions, no longer common in Old Italian at the end of the fifteenth century […]
[… T]he examples show the use of nonauxiliary verbs. Though similar to Old Italian, this is another difference from contemporary Italian.

2000, Guido Mensching, Infinitive Constructions with Specified Subjects: A Syntactic Analysis of the Romance Languages, pages 30 and 31 (Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax; →ISBN, 9780195133035)

The continuum of languages derived from Vulgar Latin spoken in the Italian peninsula between circa 960 and the establishment of the Accademia della Crusca in 1582.


Proto-Romance

The reconstructed ancestor of all the Romance languages.


Annona

(Roman mythology) A Roman goddess personifying the yearly harvest.


lingula

From Latin lingula (“tonguelet, small unit of volume”), from lingua (“tongue”) + -ula (“-ule: forming diminutives”).

bor

(historical) A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of 5/12 Roman ounce of wine, equivalent to about 11 mL.

congius (144 lingulas) urna (1152 lingulas)


congius

From Latin congius, from Ancient Greek κογχίον (konkhíon), from κόγχη (kónkhē) and κόγχος (kónkhos, “mussel shell”) + -ίον (-íon, “-y: forming diminutives”).

(historical) A Roman unit of mass instituted by Vespasian equivalent to about 3.3 kg, the weight of a congius of water.


Juno Moneta

From New Latin Juno Moneta, varient of Classical Latin Iūnō Monēta, from Iuno (“Juno”), queen of the Roman gods equated with the Greek Hera, and Moneta, of uncertain etymology. The name has been popularly derived from monēre (“to advise or warn”) since antiquity with reference to various events in Roman legend and history, but modern archeology seems to show the worship of a goddess Moneta elsewhere in Italy prior to her introduction to Rome (cf. evocatio) in 344 BC. The connection to coinage and money derived from her temple's use to house the state mint until a fire around AD 84. Cognate with money and monetary.

(Roman mythology) Synonym of Juno, particularly as a patron of the state mint and Roman coinage.

Iūnō Monēta

Juno as advisor, warner, or patron of minting


tribunician

en-adj

tribunician (comparative more tribunician, superlative most tribunician)

more tribunician (comparative)
most tribunician (superlative)

In Rome, the crucial step is taken of offering Octavian the tribunician powers for life: tribunes had personal immunity and important powers of veto.

2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 123:

(Ancient Rome) Pertaining to a Roman tribune.


genius loci

head

genius loci (plural genii loci or genii locorum)

genii loci (plural)
genii locorum (plural)

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈloʊki/

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈləʊki/

Learned borrowing from Latin genius loci (“tutelary deity of a/the place”), from the singular genitive form of locus (“place”).

lbor

(Roman mythology) The minor deity or spirit watching over a particular place.


Salian

From Latin Salianus, from Salii + -ānus (“-an: forming adjectives”), from salīre (“to jump, to leap”) + -īus (“-y: forming adjectives”).

(historical) A member of the Salii, the chief priests of Mars in ancient Rome.


Salian

en-adj

Salian (comparative more Salian, superlative most Salian)

more Salian (comparative)
most Salian (superlative)

(historical) Of or related to the Salii, the priests of Mars in ancient Rome.


Salian

From Latin Salianus, from Salii + -ānus (“-an: forming adjectives”), from Sala (“the IJssel River”) + -īus (“-y: forming adjectives”). Cognate with Salic.

(historical) A person belonging to the German and Frankish tribes near the IJssel River in antiquity.


Salian

(historical) Of or related to the Salii, the Salian people.


epiclesis

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐπίκλησις (epíklēsis, “invocation”).

lbor

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A particular appearance or aspect of a deity.