Etymologically
Log in

circuitus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 16:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɪrˈku.ɪ.tʊs], [kɪrˈkʊ.mɪ.tuːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃirˈkuː.i.tus], [t͡ʃirˈkuː.mi.tus][1]

Forms

circuitus m (genitive circuitūs); fourth declension[1] It is also written circumitus, as in Cicero and Quintilian.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from circumeō (“to go round”) with the suffix of action nouns -tus.[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it under eō (“to go”), from Proto-Italic *ei- and Proto-Indo-European *h1ei- (“to go”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,[5] who speaks of the seasons that depend on the sun's yearly course.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is motion in a circle, an orbit or revolution.[2] Cicero uses it of the natural cycle through which states turn, and of a periodic sentence; in Celsus it is the cycle of a recurring fever.[2] It is also what surrounds a place, its boundary or circumference, as the cliffs round Cicero's citadel, and its measurement, as Caesar's island with a perimeter of two thousand miles.[2][3] As “a going round” it is a detour, as Caesar's scouts sent to find the way up a mountain by a roundabout path, and figuratively roundabout methods and circumlocution (Livy, Seneca).[2][1]

Church Latin has in circuitū, “round about”.[6] In medieval sources it is a bishop's tour of his diocese, the ambulatory of a cloister, and the surroundings of a place.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of the sun's course.[2][5][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the cycle of states.[2][4]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of a perimeter and a detour.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of circumlocution.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Circular motion, orbit, revolution.[2][1]
  2. A cycle; a periodic sentence.[2][1]
  3. A surrounding wall or path; boundary, circumference; perimeter.[2][3][1][6]
  4. A going about; a detour.[2][1]
  5. Roundabout methods; circumlocution.[2][1]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A bishop's visitation; a cloister ambulatory; surroundings.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill