Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/kastrom
Proto-Italic
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut”) + *-trom. This word shows a zero-grade root and epenthetic insertion of -a-.[1]
Noun
*kastrom n
Declension
The original declension, given the presence of *-trom:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | *kastrom | *kastrā |
| vocative | *kastrom | *kastrā |
| accusative | *kastrom | *kastrā |
| genitive | *kastrosjo, *kastrī | *kastrom |
| dative | *kastrōi | *kastrois |
| ablative | *kastrōd | *kastrois |
| locative | *kastrei | *kastrois |
In Sabellic however, this word was secondarily transformed into a u-stem:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | *kastrus | *kastrowes |
| vocative | *kastrus | *kastrowes |
| accusative | *kastrum | *kastruns |
| genitive | *kastrous | *kastrwom |
| dative | *kastrowei | *kastruβos |
| ablative | *kastrūd | *kastruβos |
| locative | *kastrou | *kastruβos |
Reconstruction notes
The term may have undergone a semantic shift from the original Proto-Indo-European notion of cutting to mean "cut off part or section." From this new meaning, the term may have developed to mean "fenced off area," before further shifting to refer to a type of camp in Latin. The notion that the term originally referred to cutting is supported by Latin castrō (“to amputate, castrate”), which may derive from Proto-Italic *kastrāō, which itself may have been a denominative verb to an instrumental noun also reconstructible as *kastrom.
Related terms
- *kastru- (“field, possession?”)
- Oscan: castrous (gen. sg.), castrid (abl. sg.)
- Umbrian: 𐌊𐌀𐌔𐌕𐌓𐌖𐌅𐌖𐌚 (kastruvuf, acc. pl.), castruo (acc. pl.)
- *kastrāō
- Latin: castrō
Descendants
- Latin: castrum (see there for further descendants)
References
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “castrum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 97