septem

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈsɛp.tẽː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsɛp.tem]^[1]

Forms

septem (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *septm̥ (“seven”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥ (“seven”).^[2][1] The ordinal septimus “seventh” continues *s(e)ptm-ó-.^[2]

Cognate with Old Irish secht (“seven”), Sanskrit सप्त (saptá, “seven”), Ancient Greek ἑπτά (heptá, “seven”), Lithuanian septynì (“seven”), Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌽 (sibun, “seven”) and English seven.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2][3] as in “it is seven months since…”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was always the number seven.^[5] Fixed groups were the seven wonders of the world, the seven stars of the Great Bear or the Pleiades, the seven hills of Rome in Horace, and the Seven Sages of Greece in Cicero.^[5][4][6]

From it came September, the seventh month of the old Roman year, which passed into English in late Old English, and septentriones, the seven stars of the Plough and so “the north”.^[2][7] It survives as Italian sette, French sept, Spanish siete, Portuguese sete and Romanian șapte.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][4][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the Seven Sages.^[6][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace mentions the gods who love the seven hills.^[4][3]
• late Old English – English September comes from its derivative.^[7]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Seven.^[5][1]
2. septem miracula: the Seven Wonders of the World.^[5]
3. septem stellae: the seven stars of the Great Bear; the Pleiades.^[5]

Word family

• septeiugis
• septemfāriam
• septemfluus
• septemgeminus
• septemmestris
• septemnerua
• septempedālis
• septemplex
• septemrēmis
• septemvirālis
• septemvirātus
• septēnī

Related words

• English seven
• English September

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com