zodiacus Latin · revision 4611
15 Oct 2026, 23:54 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Cicero|origins=grc ζῷον}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [zoːˈdi.a.kʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [d͡zoˈdiː.a.kus]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''zōdiacus''' (feminine zōdiaca, neuter zōdiacum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|ζῳδιακός|tr=zōidiakós|t=of the signs]], with [[m|grc|κύκλος|tr=kúklos|t=circle]] understood,^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012) from [[m|grc|ζῴδιον|tr=zṓidion|t=small figure; sign of the zodiac]], a diminutive of [[m|grc|ζῷον|tr=zôion|t=animal]].^(Etymonline) The native Latin term was [[m|la|orbis signifer]], the sign-bearing circle.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Cicero uses it in his translation of Aratus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was the zodiac, as a noun or with ''orbis'' or ''circulus'', the circle of the twelve signs through which the sun passes.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Gellius uses it, and Censorinus says the Greeks call the ''signifer'' the zodiac.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) As an adjective, of the zodiac, it appears in Sidonius and Martianus Capella.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Isidore describes the zodiac circle in his chapters on astronomy.^(Isidore)
+
+ Medieval writers used it of the belt of the heavens centred on the sun's path.^(DMLBS) [[en|zodiac]] is recorded in the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in his Aratus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore describes the zodiac.^(Isidore)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * late 14th century – English ''zodiac'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # The [[m|en|zodiac]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Of the zodiac.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|zodiac]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}