sphaericus

Forms

sphaericus (feminine sphaerica, neuter sphaericum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σφαιρικός (sphairikós).^[1][2][3] In Latin it goes with sphaera “ball, sphere”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Macrobius, in his commentary on the Dream of Scipio, speaks of a spherical motion.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Boethius used it in arithmetic and made the feminine sphaerica the name of the science of the heavenly motions.^[2][4][5] In arithmetic sphaericus numerus named a kind of number, which Gaffiot and the DMLBS explain as a cube, after Isidore of Seville, and Conte as a number whose powers end in the same digit, as 5 and 6 do.^[5][3][6]

In medieval Latin it was the ordinary word for “spherical”, often with figūra or fōrma, and could be distinguished from rotundus “round”.^[3] Thomas Aquinas speaks of the spherical body and spherical motion.^[7]

Timeline

• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it of a spherical motion.^[2][8]
• 500–524 AD – Boethius has it in his arithmetic.^[2][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville writes of the sphaericus numerus.^[5][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. spherical, ball-shaped; circular.^[2][5][3]
2. (arithmetic) sphaericus numerus: a “spherical number”, explained as the cube of a number or as a number whose powers end in the same digit.^[5][3][6]

Noun

1. sphaerica (feminine): the science of the heavenly motions, spherics.^[2][4][5]

Word family

• sphaerica

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de