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mecastor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word mecastor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origins
Latin egoAncient Greek Κάστωρ

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [meːˈkas.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [meˈkas.tor][1]

Forms

mēcastor (interjection, not inflected)[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin mē (“me”) + Castor (“Castor”),[2][1] short for a prayer such as “so help me Castor”.[1][3] The name is Ancient Greek Κάστωρ (Kástōr).[4][5] Ancient glossaries explain it as ⟨mē ita Castor⟩.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Plautus and Terence,[7] as in the Aulularia,[8] and in Terence's Hecyra, where Syra greets Parmeno with salvē mēcastor.[4][8]

Semantic evolution

It was an oath used by women.[2][8] Gellius claimed that only women swore by Castor, but Lewis and Short and Georges note that men use the oath too in Plautus.[4][5] Lewis and Short compare other oaths such as edepol and mehercle.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Aulularia.[8][9]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in the Hecyra.[8][9]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius says that the oath by Castor belonged to women.[4][9]

Meanings

Interjection

  1. By Castor!, an oath used chiefly by women, expressing surprise or emphasis.[2][1]

Usage notes

The same oath also appears without the pronoun, as ecastor.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Mecastor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/mecastor. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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