septentrio

Forms

septentriō m (genitive septentriōnis); third declension^[1] It is first a plural, septentriōnēs, also spelled septemtriōnēs or written as two words; the singular came later.^[2] Poets split it, as in septem … triōnēs.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin septem (“seven”) + triō (“plough ox”), the seven plough oxen.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary derives triō from terō (“to rub, tread”), after the way the stars seem to mill round the pole.^[1] De Vaan traces septem to Proto-Italic *septm̥ and Proto-Indo-European *septḿ (“seven”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] in whose Amphitruo the Seven Oxen do not move anywhere in the sky.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first the seven stars of the Great Bear, the Wain, and in the singular either the Great or the Little Bear, as in Cicero.^[2] From the stars it came to mean the north: Varro says Europe lies to the north, Caesar that all Gaul faces north.^[2] It is also the northern lands or their peoples, the northern part of an area, and the north wind: Seneca ranks it as the middle of the three northerly winds.^[2] An inscription uses it of a brooch set with seven stones.^[2] English septentrion meant the North from the late 14th century and the constellation from the 1530s.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the Seven Oxen.^[2][4][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of the north.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the Great and Little Bear.^[2][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of Gaul facing north.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English septentrion, the North.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural) The seven stars of the Great Bear, the Big Dipper;^[2][3][1] (singular) the Great or the Little Bear.^[2][1]
2. The north;^[2][1] the northern lands or their peoples.^[2]
3. The north wind.^[2][1]

Word family

• septentriōnālis
• septentriōnārius

Related words

• septem
• English septentrion

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de