centaurus

Forms

centaurus m (genitive centaurī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κένταυρος (kéntauros, “centaur”),^[1][2][3] the name of a savage people of Thessaly.^[1] The further origin of the Greek word is unclear^[3] or disputed.^[4]

Ancient scholars explained the name in other ways: Servius derived it from their goading of horses, and Fulgentius from centum (“a hundred”), for a hundred armed horsemen raised by Ixion.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in Lucretius^[6][2] (96–55 BC)^[3] for one of the Centaurs, the race of beings half man and half horse,^[7][6] and in Cicero's Aratea^[7][6] (81–43 BC)^[3] as the name of a constellation.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical poetry the Centaurs were the sons of Ixion and a cloud, famous for their battle with the Lapiths;^[7][2] Horace calls Chiron the “noble Centaur”.^[2][6] The word was also the name of the southern constellation, in Cicero, Hyginus and Manilius,^[2][7] and in Virgil of a ship, then treated as feminine,^[7][2] and of a ship's figurehead.^[2]

Old High German glosses render it with words meaning “half-hound” and “giant”.^[3] English took over centaur in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius writes of the Centaurs.^[6][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero's Aratea names the constellation.^[7][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for a ship and its figurehead.^[7][2][3]
• c. 400 AD – Servius explains the name from the goading of horses.^[5][3]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as centaur.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mythology) A centaur, one of a race half man and half horse living in Thessaly.^[7][2][1]
2. (astronomy) The Centaur, a southern constellation.^[7][2]
3. (feminine) The name of a ship; also a ship's figurehead.^[7][2]

Word family

• Centaurēus

Related words

• English centaur

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press