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The corpus record — Latin

castrum

castrum

fortified post or settlement

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 209 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. castrum — de Vaan

castrum 'fortified post or settlement' [η. ο] (Ρ1.+; mostly pi castra, -drum 'id/ P1.+) Derivatives: castellum 'fortified settlement' (Sis.+); prdce/astria 'buildings outside the city gate' (Paul, ex f\). Pit. *kastro- 'part, share'. It. cognates: O. castrous [gen.sg.], castrid [abl.sg.], U. kastruvuf, castruo [acc.pL] < *kastru- 'field, possession?'. PIE *£s-tro-, WH and EM interpret castrum as 'cut-off part*, … — [de Vaan, s.v. castrum, p. 111]

2. castrum — Lewis & Short

castrum, i, n.kindred with casa, q. v..

I In sing., any fortified place; a castle, fort, fortress (more rare than castellum): ei Grunium dederat in Phrygiā castrum, etc., Nep. Alcib. 9, 3; Liv. 32. 29, 4; Dig. 27, 1, 17 fin.—
B Esp., nom. propr.
1 Castrum Altum or Album, in Hispania Tarraconensis, Liv. 24, 41, 3.—
2 Castrum Inui, or simply Castrum, an ancient city of the Rutuli, near Ardea, Verg. A. 6, 775; called Castrum, Ov. M. 15, 727; Sil. 8, 359. —
3 Castrum Novum, a city on the seacoast of Etruria, Liv. 36, 3, 6; Plin. 3, 5, 8, § 51.—
4 Another Castrum Novum, on the sea-coast of Picenum, now Giulia Nova, Plin. 3, 13, 18, § 110; also called absol. Castrum, Vell. 1, 14, 8.—
5 Castrum Truentinum, a maritime city of Picenum, on the river Truentus, Cic. Att. 8, 12, B, 1; also called Truentum, Plin. 3, 13, 18, § 110.—
6 Castrum Vergium, a fortress of the Bergistani in Hispania Tarraconensis, now Berga, Liv. 34, 21, 1.—Far more freq.,
II In plur.: castra, ōrum, n. (castra, ae, f.: castra haec vestra est, Att. ap. Non. p. 200, 30; Trag. Rel. p. 238 Rib.).
A Lit., several soldiers' tents situated together; hence, a military camp, an encampment; among the Romans a square (quadrata); later, after the manner of the Greeks, sometimes circular, or adjusted to its situation, Veg. Mil. 1, 23. It was surrounded by a trench (fossa) and a wall (vallum), and had four gates: Porta Praetoria, the front, chief gate, on the opp. side from the enemy, from which the legions marched; opp. to this, Porta Decumana (in later times Porta Quaestoria), the back gate; Porta Principalis Dextra, and Porta Principalis Sinistra, situated on the two sides of the camp, Liv. 40, 27, 4 sq.; cf. Dict. of Antiq.—
b Phrases.
(a) With adj.: stativa, occupied for a long time, permanent, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 12, § 29; Caes. B. C. 3, 30; 3, 37; Sall. J. 44, 4; Tac. A. 3, 21: aestiva, summer camp, id. ib. 1, 16; Suet. Claud. 1: hiberna, Liv. 29, 35, 13 (more freq. absol. aestiva and hiberna, q. v.): navalia, an encampment on the shore for protecting the fleet and the troops while landing; sometimes connected with the ships drawn to land, Caes. B. G. 5, 22 Herz.; cf. id. ib. 5, 11; Liv. 29, 35, 13; called also nautica, Nep. Alcib. 8, 5; id. Hann. 11, 6 (cf. id. ib. § 4; Liv. 44, 39): lunata, crescent-shaped, Auct. B. Afr. 80.—With numerals: una, Tac. A. 4, 2: bina, Cic. Phil. 12, 11, 27; Liv. 4, 27, 3: quina, Caes. B. C. 3, 9.—
(b) With verb: locum castris antecapere, Sall. J. 50, 1; cf.: capere locum castris, Liv. 4, 27, 3; 9, 17, 15; and montes castris capere, Tac. A. 12, 55: castra metari, Cael. ap. Non. p. 137, 18; Caes. B. C. 3, 13, 3; Hirt. B. G. 8, 15 al.: facere, Caes. B. G. 1, 48; Nep. Milt. 5, 2; Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 12, § 29 al.: ponere, Caes. B. G. 2, 5; 7, 35; Nep. Hann. 5 fin.: ponere et munire, Sall. J. 75, 7: munire, Caes. B. G. 1, 49; Liv. 44, 39, 1: communire, Caes. B. G. 5, 49; Liv. 23, 28, 3: castra castris conferre, id. 10, 32, 5; 23, 28, 9: castris se tenere, Caes. B. G. 1, 40, 8: castra movere, to break up, to decamp, id. ib. 1, 39 fin.; also syn. with to march forth from a camp, id. ib. 1, 15 Herz.; 1, 22; 2, 2; Sall. C. 57, 3; Nep. Dat. 8, 4; id. Eum. 12 fin. et saep.—Hence, also, promovere, Caes. B. G. 1, 48: movere retro, Liv. 2, 58, 3: removere, id. 9, 24, 4: proferre, Caes. B. C. 1, 81: castris castra inferre, Enn. Trag. 201 Vahl.—
c Castra Praetoriana, Praetoria, Urbana or simply Castra, the barracks of the Prœtorians in the suburbs of Rome, Suet. Tib. 37; id. Claud. 21; Tac. A. 4, 2; Suet. Aug. 29; id. Claud. 36; Dig. 48, 5, 15. —
d Castrorum filius, a surname of Caligula, who was brought up in the camp, Suet. Calig. 22; Aur. Vict. Caes. 3.—So, Castrorum mater, an appellation of Faustina, the wife of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, because she accompanied him in an expedition against the Quadi, Capitol. Marc. Aur. 26.—Hence both appell. in later inscriptions as titles of the Roman emperors and empresses.—
B Esp. as nom. propr., like castrum.
1 Castra Corneliana or Cornelia, on the north coast of Africa, near Utica, so called because the elder Scipio Africanus first pitched his camp there, after his landing in Africa, in the second Punic war, Caes. B. C. 2, 24; 2, 25; 2, 37; Mel. 1, 7, 2; Plin. 5, 4, 3, § 24.—
2 Castra Caecilia, in Lusitania, Plin. 4, 22, 35, § 117.—
3 Castra Hannibalis, a seaport town in Bruttium, Plin. 3, 10, 15, § 95.—
4 Castra Pyrrhi, a place in Grecian Illyria, Liv. 32, 13, 2.—
5 Castra Vetera or Vetera, a place on the Lower Rhine, now Xanthen, Tac. H. 4, 18; 4, 21; 4, 35; id. A. 1, 45.—
6 Castra Alexandri, a district in Egypt, Curt. 4, 7, 2; Oros. 1, 2.—
C Meton.
1 Since, in military expeditions, a camp was pitched each evening, in the histt. (esp. Livy) for a day's march: secundis castris ( = bidui itinere) pervenit ad Dium, Liv. 44, 7, 1; so Tac. H. 3, 15; cf.: alteris castris, Liv. 38, 13, 2; Curt. 3, 7.— So tertiis castris, Liv. 38, 13, 11; 38, 24, 1; Tac. H. 4, 71: quartis castris, Liv. 44, 46, 10: quintis castris, Caes. B. G. 7, 36; Liv. 28, 19, 4: septimis castris, id. 40, 22, 1: decimis castris, id. 27, 32 fin.; 28, 33, 1.—
2 Military service (hence, often opp. forum and toga), Nep. Epam. 5, 4; Vell. 2, 125, 4; Tib. 4, 1, 39: qui magnum in castris usum habebant, Caes. B. G. 1, 39.—
3 Of beehives: cerea, Verg. A. 12, 589: in apium castris, Pall. 1, 37, 4.—
4 Of a sheepfold, Col. 6, 23, 3.—
5 Of political parties, regarded as arrayed in hostility: si ad interdicti sententiam confugis... in meis castris praesidiisque versaris, Cic. Caecin. 29, 83.—
6 Of philosophical sects: Epicuri castra, Cic. Fam. 9, 20, 1: O castra praeclara (Epicuri)! id. ib. 7, 12, 1; Hor. C. 3, 16, 23; Sen. Ep. 2, 4.

In the wild

6 of 5,622 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. castrum (scan pp. 111-112; entry #221). Root candidates: *kastro-, *kastru-, *kers-.
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. castrum (scan p. 128; entry #1866).

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.