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The corpus record — Latin

centrum

centrum · n

the stationary foot of the compasses

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

Where it lives

What it meant

centrum — Lewis & Short

centrum, i, n., = ke/ntron (a prickle, sharp point).

I Centrum circini, the stationary foot of the compasses, around which the other is carried in making a circle, Vitr. 3, 1; 9, 5.—Hence,
II Meton.
A The middle point of a circle, the centre, Vitr. 3, 1; 9, 1; Plin. 2, 15, 13, § 63; 2, 19, 17, § 81 et saep.—In plur.: solis terraeque centra, Plin. 18, 29, 69, § 281 (in Cic. Tusc. 1, 17, 40, used as a Greek word).—
B A kernel, a hard knot in the interior of wood, precious stones, etc., Plin. 16, 39, 76, § 198; 37, 2, 10, § 28; 37, 9, 39, § 120 al.

Where it came from

  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. centrum (scan p. 137; entry #2021).

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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.