astrum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈas.trũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈas.trum]^[1]

Forms

astrum n (genitive astrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”).^[2][1][3] Lewis & Short think it perhaps borrowed and compare the native stella, English star and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō).^[4] The TLL calls it a learned word.^[5] Varro, as reported by Martianus Capella, derived astra from the name of Astraeus.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it of the fixed stars and the planets in the Tusculan Disputations.^[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant a heavenly body or star, usually in the plural, then a planet, including the sun and moon, and a constellation, especially a sign of the zodiac.^[2] Lewis & Short describe it as poetic or belonging to elevated prose.^[4] Döderlein distinguishes stella, any one of the countless single stars, from astrum, one of the great bright bodies such as the sun, moon and named stars, while sidus is a constellation, which is used more in astronomical and astrological contexts.^[7]

In the plural it meant the sky and the heavens, of towers rising to the stars in Virgil.^[2][4] From this came figurative phrases such as in astra tollere, to praise to the skies, and Virgil's sic itur ad astra, “thus one goes to the stars”, of immortal glory.^[2][4] Statius uses it of a deified person.^[2] In medieval Latin it also meant heaven as the seat of God and the saints, and, in Niermeyer, a hearth or home.^[8][9] Through Italian disastro “ill-starred” it lies behind English disaster, recorded in the 1590s.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of stars and planets.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes sic itur ad astra.^[4][6]
• 1st century AD – Manilius uses it of the signs of the zodiac.^[2][6]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of a deified person.^[2][6]
• 1590s – English disaster is recorded, from its Italian derivative.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A heavenly body, a star.^[2][1]
2. A planet.^[2]
3. A constellation, a sign of the zodiac.^[2][1]
4. (plural) The sky, the heavens.^[2]
5. (figurative) in astra tollere, to extol to the skies.^[2]
6. A deified person.^[2]
7. (Medieval Latin) A hearth, home.^[9]

Word family

• astrālis
• astricus
• astrifer
• astrificō
• astrificus
• astriger
• astriloquus
• astrilucus
• astrisonus
• astrōsus

Related words

• stella
• sidus
• English disaster

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com