aequinoctium Latin · revision 34505

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la aequus, la nox}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ae̯.kʷɪˈnɔk.ti.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [e.kʷiˈnɔk.t͡si.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''aequinoctium''' ''n'' (genitive aequinoctiī or aequinoctī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|aequus|nox|-ium|t1=equal|t2=night]], the time when night is equal to day.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of [[m|la|nox]], from Cato on;^(de Vaan 2008) for [[m|la|aequus]] he finds no convincing etymology.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Varro already explained the name: when the sun comes midway between the winter and the summer solstice, day becomes equal to night, hence the name;^(TLL) Isidore of Seville repeats the explanation.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Gaffiot date it from Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Gaffiot 2016) whose treatise on agriculture uses ''aequinoctium vernum'', the spring equinox, to date farm work.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It names each of the two equinoxes, the time or season of the equinox.^(OLD 2012) Writers distinguish the ''aequinoctium vernum'' (or ''vernale'') from the ''aequinoctium autumnale'' (or ''autumni''), and Isidore dates them to the eighth day before the Kalends of April and of October.^(TLL) Cicero and Caesar use it,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Livy has both the spring and the autumn equinox,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Pliny the Elder says that the tides swell most at the two equinoxes, more at the autumnal than at the vernal.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ Medieval writers in Britain use it for the equinox, and an English record of 1233 dates a payment by the equinox of Saint Michael, the autumnal equinox.^(DMLBS) English took it as [[m|en|equinox]] about 1400, from Old French or from Medieval Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses ''aequinoctium vernum'' in his treatise on agriculture.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro explains the name from day and night being equal.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes that the tides are highest at the equinoxes.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville dates the two equinoxes.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1233 – An English record names the autumnal equinox after Saint Michael.^(DMLBS)

+ * c. 1400 – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|equinox]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|equinox]]; the time or season of the equinox (often in the plural, the two equinoxes).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''aequinoctium vernum'', ''autumnale'': the spring and the autumn equinox.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[aequinoctiālis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aequus]]

+ * [[nox]]

+ * [[en|equinox]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}