saxum
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsæksəm/
Noun
saxum (plural saxa)
- (astronomy) a boulder, in geographic names on asteroids
Latin
![](Images/wiktionary/Quartzite_2_jpg.jpg.webp)
saxum (a rock, a stone)
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *saksom, of unknown derivation. De Vaan rejects any connections with Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”), leaving it as unknown. This is due to the presence of the vowel a in the Latin word, reasoning that to obtain that vowel in that position, a laryngeal must be posited. The root *sek- does not have a laryngeal, ruling out a Proto-Indo-European derivation.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈsak.sum/, [ˈs̠äks̠ʊ̃ˑ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈsak.sum/, [ˈsäksum]
Audio (Classical) (file)
Noun
saxum n (genitive saxī); second declension
- stone, rock (a large, rough fragment of rock)
- Synonyms: lapis, silex, petra
- Aaron Stone, season 1 episode 16:
- Responsum est sub saxo.
- The answer is under the rock.
- (by extension) wall of stone
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | saxum | saxa |
Genitive | saxī | saxōrum |
Dative | saxō | saxīs |
Accusative | saxum | saxa |
Ablative | saxō | saxīs |
Vocative | saxum | saxa |
Derived terms
- saxifragus
- saxum volvō
Related terms
- saxātilēs
- saxātilis
- saxētum
- saxeus
- saxiālis
- saxifer
- saxificus
- saxifragus
- saxigenus
- saxipērium
- saxitas
- saxōsa
- saxōsitās
- saxōsus
- saxulum
Descendants
- Galician: seixo
- Istriot: sasso
- Italian: sasso
- Ligurian: sàscio
- Portuguese: seixo
- Spanish: sajo, saxo
References
- “saxum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “saxum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- saxum 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)
- saxum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- steep rocks: saxa praerupta
- the rocks re-echo: saxa voci respondent or resonant
- to pave a road: viam sternere (silice, saxo)
- to throw some one down the Tarpeian rock: deicere aliquem de saxo Tarpeio
- steep rocks: saxa praerupta
- “saxum”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929), Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “saxum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 541