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crastinus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word crastinus

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (crās)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkraːs.tɪ.nʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkras.ti.nus][1]

Forms

crāstinus (feminine crāstina, neuter crāstinum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from crās “tomorrow” with the suffix ⟨-tinus⟩.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citations are from Plautus, of the next day.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant of tomorrow, of the next day, as Plautus' and Cicero's crāstinus diēs “tomorrow”, and Plautus' old diē crāstinī.[2][5] As a noun it meant tomorrow, with in crāstinum “till tomorrow”, as in Seneca, and poetically it meant of the future.[2] Lewis and Short call it frequent and Classical in prose and poetry.[3] Crastinus was also a Roman surname, as in Caesar.[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant relating to tomorrow.[6] In Medieval Latin it meant of the morrow, with crāstinum colloquium a “morrow speech”.[7] English procrastinate comes from its compound prōcrāstinō “to put off till tomorrow” in the 1580s.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses crāstinus diēs.[2][5][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses crāstinus diēs.[5][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses in crāstinum.[2][4]
  • 1580s – English procrastinate is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of tomorrow, crāstinus diēs, tomorrow.[2]
  2. (as noun) Tomorrow, in crāstinum, till tomorrow.[2]
  3. (poetic) Of the future.[2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Crastinus.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/crastinus. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·