cardo — Lewis & Short
cardo, ĭnis, m.cf. kra/dh, a swing; kradai/nw, to swing, wave; Sanscr. kurd, a spring, a leap; old Germ. hrad, lively, and Germ. reit in bereit, ready (f., Gracch. ap.
Prisc. p. 683 P.; Graius ap. Non. p. 202, 20; cf. infra in Vitr.),I the pivot and socket, upon which a door was made to swing at the lintel and the threshold, the hinge of a door or gate, Enn. Trag. 119 Vahl.:
paene ecfregisti foribus cardines,Plaut. Am. 4, 2, 6; id. As. 2, 3, 8:
postis a cardine vellit Aeratos,Verg. A. 2, 480:
cardo stridebat,id. ib. 1, 449; cf. id. Cir. 222:
num muttit cardo?Plaut. Curc. 1, 1, 94:
immoti,Plin. 16, 43, 84, § 230:
singuli,id. 36, 15, 24, § 117:
facili patuerunt cardine valvae,Juv. 4, 63:
versato cardine Thisbe Egreditur,opening the door, Ov. M. 4, 93; cf. Verg. A. 3, 448:
nec strepitum verso Saturnia cardine fecit,Ov. M. 14, 782 al.—
B Meton.
1 Cardines, in mechanics, beams that were fitted together; and specifically, cardo masculus, a tenon, Vitr. 9, 6, and cardo femina, a socket, a mortise, id. 9, 6:
cardo securiclatus,axeshaped tenon, a dovetail, id. 10, 15, 3.— Hence,
b In garlands, the place where the two ends meet, Plin. 21, 4, 10, § 18.—
2 In astron., the point about which something turns, a pole. So of the North pole:
caeli,Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 4:
mundi,Plin. 4, 12, 26, § 89; cf.: extremusque adeo duplici de cardine vertex Dicitur esse polus, Cic. poët. N. D. 2, 41, 105; Ov. P. 2, 10, 45; Stat. Th. 1, 349:
cardo glacialis ursae,Sen. Herc. Fur. 1139:
Arctoae cardo portae,Stat. Th. 7, 35;
hence anal. to this, with the agrimensores,the line limiting the field, drawn through from north to south, Plin. 18, 33, 76, § 326; 17, 22, 35, § 169; cf. Fest. s. v. decimanus, p. 71 Müll., and accordingly the mountain Taurus is called cardo, i. e. line or limit, Liv. 37, 54, 23; cf. id. 40, 18, 8; 41, 1, 3.—Of the four cardinal points of the world, Quint. 12, 10, 67; so, Hesperius Eous, Luc. 5, 71; Stat. Th. 1, 157:
occiduus,Luc. 4, 672:
medius,id. 4, 673.— Of the earth as the centre of the universe, acc. to the belief of the ancients, Plin. 2, 64, 64, § 160; 2, 9, 6, § 44.—Of the intersection of inclined surfaces:
reperiuntur (aquae) ... quodam convexitatis cardine aut montium radicibus,Plin. 31, 3, 26, § 43.—Of the summer solstice:
anni,Plin. 18, 28, 68, § 264; and so of the epochs of the different seasons:
temporum,id. 18, 25, 58, § 218; 18, 25, 59, § 220.—Hence, of the time of life:
extremus,old age, Luc. 7, 381.—
II Trop., that on which every thing else turns or depends, the chief point or circumstance (so not before the Aug. per.):
haud tanto cessabit cardine rerum,at such a turn of affairs, so great a crisis, in so critical a moment, decisive, Verg. A. 1, 672 (hoc est in articulo, Serv.; cf. Isid. Orig. 15, 7, 6; Gr. a)kmh=():
fatorum in cardine summo,Stat. Th. 10, 853: litium. Quint. 12, 8, 2:
causae,id. 5, 12, 3:
satellitem in quo totius dominationis summa quasi quodam cardine continetur,Val. Max. 3, 3, ext. 5:
unum eligamus in quo est summum ac principale, in quo totius sapientiae cardo versatur,Lact. 3, 7, 6.