The corpus record — Latin

fascinum

fascinum · n

A bewitching

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

Where it lives

De Virginibus Velandis 2 · 3.59/10k
Epodon 1 · 3.33/10k
Satyricon 2 · 0.66/10k
Noctes Atticae 1 · 0.09/10k
Naturalis Historia 2 · 0.05/10k

What it meant

1. fascĭnum — Lewis & Short

fascĭnum, i, n. (-ĭnus, i, m.) [quasi bascanum, ba/skanon, Cloat. Ver. ap.

Gell. 16, 12, 4; but cf. Paul. ex Fest. p. 88, 16].

I A bewitching, witchcraft, Plin. 26, 10, 62, § 96; Symm. Ep. 1, 7.—

II Transf.

A I. q. membrum virile (because an image of it was hung round the necks of children as a preventive against witchcraft; cf. Varr. L. L. 7, § 97 Müll.), Hor. Epod. 8, 18; Petr. 138; Arn. 5, 176.—Also in the form fascinus, i. m., Verg. Cat. 5, 20; and personified, Fascĭnus, i, as a deity, the Phallus, Plin. 28, 4, 7, § 39.—

B A kind of sea-shell, App. Mag. p. 297, 11.

2. fascinum — Walde–Hofmann

fascinum, -7 n. (-us m.) , Behexung" (arcäre, dépellere Paul. Fest. 85. 86); „männliches Glied (als Gottheit Plin, Wissowa Rel.? 243°), zunächst als Mittel gegen Behexung“ (seit Verg. und Hor., davon faseinäre ,behexen* [seit Catull, rom., ebenso ef- seit Plin., s. Wartburg Ill 428, auch zur Konkurrenz von incantäre, carminäre]; -ätiö „Behexung“ seit Plin,, -@tor, -ätörius, -abulum Spätl.; vgl. noch praefascinüre … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. fascinum, p. 491]

In the wild

fascini Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 26.10.p3
fascini Tertullian, De Virginibus Velandis 15
fascinum Petronius, Satyricon 138
fascinum Tertullian, De Virginibus Velandis 15
fascinum Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 16.12.4
fascini Petronius, Satyricon 92

6 of 8 attestations shown.

Where it came from

Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. fascinum (scan p. 491; entry #1077). Root candidates: *ba-.

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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.