The corpus record — Latin

saxum

rock, boulder

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

Where it lives

Epitaphia heroum qui bello Troico interfuerunt 5 · 41.67/10k
Lydia, Appendix Vergiliana 1 · 18.76/10k
Mosella 6 · 18.46/10k
Appendix Vergiliana 2 · 18.25/10k
Dittochaeon 2 · 16.34/10k
Cupido cruciatur 1 · 13.57/10k
Epodon 4 · 13.31/10k
Hercules Oetaeus 14 · 12.43/10k
Aeneid 77 · 12.16/10k
Oedipus 7 · 11.8/10k
Georgicon 16 · 11.31/10k
Punica 83 · 10.88/10k

Densest 12 of 167 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. saxum — de Vaan

saxum 'rock, boulder' [n. o] (Naev.+) Derivatives: saxeus 'of stones and rock' (Andr.+), saxatilis 'living among rocks' (PL+). Pit *saks-o-. IE cognates: OIc. soxy OHG sahs 'knife'? Pit. *safa- cannot go back to the root *sek- of secare, since -a- would remain unexplained, Saxum can only be cognate with the Gm. words for 'knife' if these reflect a root *shjc~. However, the Gm. words can also reflect *sok-s-, and … — [de Vaan, s.v. saxum, p. 555]

2. saxum — Lewis & Short

saxum (in inscrr. also SAKSVM; from collat. form saxus;

I a vocative SAXE, Inscr. Orell. 2982), i, n. root sak-; Sanscr. ska; cf. secare, any large, rough stone; a detached fragment of rock; a rock (in gen.; whereas rupes is a steep rock, crag, cliff).

I In gen., Lucr. 4, 266 sq.; cf. id. 1, 882: non est e saxo sculptus, Cic. Ac. 2, 31, 100: pars ludicre saxa Jactant, inter se licitantur, Enn. ap. Non. 134, 13 (Ann. v. 76 Vahl.): (Sisyphum) adverso nixantem trudere monte Saxum, etc., Lucr. 3, 1001: miser impendens magnum timet aëre saxum Tantalus, id. 3, 980: saxo cere comminuit brum, Enn. ap. Serv. Verg. A. 1, 412 (Ann. v. 586 Vahl.); cf.: si glebis aut saxis aut fustibus aliquem de fundo praecipitem egeris, Cic. Caecin.21,60: magni ponderis saxa, in muro collocare, Caes. B. G. 2, 29; cf. id. ib. 7, 22 fin.; 7, 23; 7, 46: (Thyestes) summis saxis fixus asperis, Enn. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 44, 107 (Trag. v. 413 Vahl.); cf.: aspicite religatum asperis Vinctumque saxis (Prometheum), Cic. poët. Tusc. 2, 10, 23: speluncas saxis pendentibu' structas, Lucr. 6, 195; cf., of the cave of Cacus: jam primum saxis suspensam hanc aspice rupem, Verg. A. 8, 190: tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis, id. G. 2, 156: inter saxa rupesque, Liv. 21, 40: saxa spargens tabo, Enn. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 44, 107 (Trag. v. 414 Vahl.): vesco sale saxa peresa, Lucr. 1, 326: nec turbida ponti Aequora fligebant naves ad saxa, id. 5, 1001: si ad saxum quo capessit, Plaut. Rud. 1, 2, 89 et saep.: lapis non saxum est, Plin. 36, 22, 49, § 169.—In apposition: in saxis silicibus uberiores aquae sunt, in limestone rocks, Vitr. 8, 1.—

2 Prov.

a Saxum volvere, i. e. to strive or endeavor in vain (alluding to the stone of Sisyphus): satis diu hoc jam saxum volvo, Ter. Eun. 5, 8, 55.—

b Inter sacrum saxumque stare; v. sacrum, A. 2. b.—

II In partic.

A For Saxum Tarpejum (cf. Fest. p. 343 Müll. and v. Tarpejus, II.), the Tarpeian Rock: horribilis de saxo jactus, Lucr. 3, 1016; Plaut. Trin. 2, 1, 31; Cic. Att. 14, 16, 2; Hor. S. 1, 6, 39; Tac. A. 2, 32; 4, 29; Dig. 48, 19, 25; v. Tarpeius.—

B Saxum sacrum, the sacred rock on the Aventine, at which Remus consulted the auspices, Cic. Dom. 53, 136; called saxum alone, Ov. F. 5, 150.—

C A superior kind of Cimolian chalk (creta Cimolia), Plin. 35, 17, 57, § 196.—

D Saxa Rubra; v. ruber, II. B.—

III Transf.

1 Plur.: saxa, stony ground, rocky places: mitis in apricis coquitur vindemia saxis, Verg. G. 2, 522: Ligurum, Mart. 3, 82, 22.—

2 A stone wall: Romulus saxo lucum circumdedit alto, Ov. F. 3, 431.—

3 The strong foundation of a building: Capitolium quadrato saxo substructum, Liv. 6, 4, 12.

3. saxum — Walde–Hofmann

saxum, -i n. „Steinblock, Stein, Klippe, Fels“ (seit Enn. und Plaut., rom. [neben verbreiteterem petra]; vgl. saxulum n. „kleines Felsstück" seit Cic., sazeus „felsig“ seit Bell. Afr., rom., saxösis ds. seit Verg., saxétum n. „felsige Gegend“ seit Cic., sawätilis „auf Felsen lebend“ seit Ov, [nach aqua-, Leumann -/is Ti ff], sawitäs f. „Härte; steinerne Art“ seit Cael, Aur., saxicole m. „Verehrer der Bildnisse aus … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. saxum, p. 1390]

In the wild

6 of 1,294 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. saxum (scan p. 555; entry #1552). Root candidates: *safa-, *sek-, *skeb-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. saxum (scan p. 528; entry #8631).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. saxum (scan p. 1390; entry #2448).

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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.