saxum

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsæksəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

saxum (plural saxa)

1. (astronomy) a boulder, in geographic names on asteroids

Latin

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.

Despite this, it cannot be separated from Proto-Germanic *sahsą.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈsak.sum/, [ˈs̠äks̠ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsak.sum/, [ˈsäksum]

Noun

saxum n (genitive saxī); second declension

1. 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.

2. (by extension) wall of stone

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	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)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934) “saxum”, in Dictionnaire illustré latin-français [Illustrated Latin-French Dictionary] (in French), Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], 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
    
• “saxum”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929) Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press