castrum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin castrum. Doublet of Caister and Chester.

Noun

castrum (plural castra)

1. (historical) Among the Ancient Romans, a building or plot of land used as a military defensive position.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kastrom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut, cut off, separate”) +‎ Proto-Indo-European *-trom (Latin -trum) (Watkins, 1969). Cognate with Sanskrit शस्त्र (śastrá, “cutting tool, sword”). See also castrō, careō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.trum/, [ˈkäs̠t̪rʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkas.trum/, [ˈkäst̪rum]

Noun

castrum n (genitive castrī); second declension

1. castle, fort, fortress
2. (chiefly in the plural) several soldiers' tents situated together; hence, a military camp, an encampment
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.9:

     Caesar exposito exercitu et loco castris idoneo capto […]

     Caesar, having disembarked his army and chosen a convenient place for the camp […]

Usage notes

Use in singular is rarer than that of castellum.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	castrum	castra
Genitive	castrī	castrōrum
Dative	castrō	castrīs
Accusative	castrum	castra
Ablative	castrō	castrīs
Vocative	castrum	castra

Derived terms

• castellum
• castra

Descendants

Inherited

• Italian: castro, Castro
• Old Galician-Portuguese: castro, Castro
  • Galician: castro, Castro
  • Portuguese: castro, crasto, Castro, Crasto
• Old Spanish: castro
  • Spanish: castro, Castro

Borrowed

• → Albanian: -kastër
• → Aramaic: קַצְרָא (qaṣrā) / ܩܰܨܪܳܐ (qaṣrā)
  • → Arabic: قَصْر (qaṣr)
    • Hijazi Arabic: قصر (gaṣur)
    • Moroccan Arabic: قصر (qṣar)
      • → English: ksar
      • → French: ksar
    • → Italian: cassero, cassaro
    • → Old Catalan: alcacer
      • Catalan: alcàsser
    • → Old Galician-Portuguese: alcaçar, alcaçer
      • Galician: alcácer
      • Portuguese: alcácer
    • → Old Spanish: alcaçar, alcacer
      • Spanish: alcázar (see there for further descendants)
    • → Persian: قصر (qasr)
      • Tajik: қаср (qasr)
      • → Ottoman Turkish: قصر
        • Turkish: kasır
      • → Uzbek: qasr
    • → Sicilian: càssaru
    • → Swahili: kasri
    • → Uyghur: قەسىر (qesir)
• → Berber [languages?]: aɣasru, ɣasru
• → Byzantine Greek: κάστρον (kástron)
  • Greek: κάστρο n (kástro)
    • → Coptic: ⲕⲁⲥⲧⲣⲟⲩ (kastrou), ⲕⲁⲥⲧⲣⲟⲛ (kastron)
    • → Aromanian: castru
• → English: castrum
• → Hebrew: קְצָרָה (qəṣārā)
• → Old English: ceaster
  • Middle English: Chestre
    • English: -caster, -cester, -chester, Chester
• → Romanian: castru

Further reading

• “castrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “castrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• castrum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• castrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • veterans; experienced troops: qui magnum in castris usum habent
    
  • to disarm a person: armis (castris) exuere aliquem
    
  • to leave troops to guard the camp: praesidio castris milites relinquere
    
  • to mount guard in the camp: vigilias agere in castris (Verr. 4. 43)
    
  • to keep the troops in camp: copias castris continere
    
  • to remain inactive in camp: se (quietum) tenere castris
    
• “castrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 586