Etymologically
Log in

septimus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 00:02. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsɛp.tɪ.mʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɛp.ti.mus][1]

Forms

septimus (feminine septima, neuter septimum); first/second-declension numeral[1] An older spelling is septumus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *septmo- (“seventh”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *septm-ó- (“seventh”), the ordinal of *septḿ̥ (“seven”);[4][1] the OLD analyses it as septem (“seven”) and the suffix ⟨-imus⟩.[2] Cognate with Sanskrit सप्तम (saptamá-) and Old Church Slavonic седмъ (sedmŭ).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Naevius as its first author.[4] Plautus has mense septumō, “in the seventh month”, in the Amphitruo, and a house “the seventh from the gate” in the Pseudolus.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is the ordinal “seventh”, and pars septima is a seventh part, as in the land surveyors.[2][3] As a name, Septimus was a rare praenomen and a cognomen.[1]

In medieval Latin septimus or septima was the seventh day after a death and the mass said for the dead on that day.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius.[4][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the seventh month.[3][6]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. Seventh.[2][1][7]
  2. pars septima, a seventh part.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin, noun) The seventh day after a death; the requiem mass of that day.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson