centrum

Pronunciation

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

Forms

centrum n (genitive centrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “sharp point, goad”).^[2][1][3][4] The Greek word was used of the fixed point of a pair of compasses, hence the centre of a circle.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Vitruvius (c. 84–c. 25 BC), who uses it of the fixed leg of the compasses placed at a man's navel.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

It first meant the fixed leg of a pair of compasses.^[2][6] From this it meant the centre of a circle or sphere, of the earth or of the universe, as in Vitruvius and Pliny.^[2][6] It was also the vanishing point in perspective drawing, and the axis on which something turns.^[2]

Pliny used it of a hard knot in wood or a flaw in crystal.^[2][8] In Medieval Latin it also meant the zenith or a point in the sky.^[7] English center came from it through Old French in the late 14th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of compasses and centres.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of centres and of knots in wood.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – English center is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The fixed leg of a pair of compasses.^[2]
2. The center of a circle or sphere.^[2][1]
3. A vanishing point.^[2]
4. An axis, pivot.^[2]
5. A knot (in wood), a hard spot.^[2]

Related words

• English center

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.