solstitium Latin · revision 4261

15 Oct 2026, 21:27 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=Cato|origins=la sōl, la sistō}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [soːɫˈstɪ.ti.ũː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [solˈstit.t͡si.um]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''sōlstitium''' ''n'' (genitive sōlstitiī or sōlstitī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[af|la|sol|sisto|-ium|t1=sun|t2=to stand, stop]], the time when the sun seems to stand still.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Isidore of Seville explained it as the sun's standing, [[m|la|sōlis statiō]].^(Isidore)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Cato, in On Agriculture, reckons farm work by it, as grafting pears in spring and around the summer solstice.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant either solstice, and especially the summer solstice, the longest day, as in Varro and Cicero, opposite [[bruma]], the winter solstice.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) By transfer it was the season of the summer solstice and its heat: Virgil tells farmers to pray for wet summers and clear winters.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Lewis & Short note that the general sense of either solstice is common only after the Augustan period, as in Columella's ''solstitium aestīvum'' and ''hībernum''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ Medieval writers used it of both solstices.^(DMLBS) English ''solstice'' is recorded in the mid-13th century, through Old French.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 234–149 BC – Cato dates farm work by the solstice.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of summer weather.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1st century AD – Columella distinguishes the summer and winter solstice.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * mid-13th century – English ''solstice'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|solstice]], summer or winter.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # The summer solstice, the longest day.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Midsummer, the heat of summer.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[sōlstitiālis]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[sol|alt=sōl]]
+ * [[sisto|alt=sistō]]
+ * [[bruma]]
+ * [[en|solstice]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}