castrum

English

Borrowed from Latin castrum. Doublet of Caister and Chester.

castrum (plural castra)

(historical) Among the Ancient Romans, a building or plot of land used as a military defensive position.

From Proto-Italic *kastrom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut, cut off, separate”) +‎ Proto-Indo-European *-trom (Latin -trum) (Watkins, 1969).^[1] Cognate with Sanskrit शस्त्र (śastrá, “cutting tool, sword”).^[2] See also castrō, careō.

castrum n (genitive castrī); second declension

castle, fort, fortress
(chiefly in the plural) several soldiers' tents situated together; hence, a military camp, an encampment
- c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.9:
  Caesar exposito exercitu et loco castris idoneo capto […]
  Caesar, having disembarked his army and chosen a convenient place for the camp […]

Use in singular is rarer than that of castellum.

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Inherited

Italian: castro, Castro
Old Galician-Portuguese: castro, Castro
- Galician: castro, Castro
- Portuguese: castro, crasto, Castro, Crasto
Old Spanish: castro
- Spanish: castro, Castro

Borrowed

→ Albanian: -kastër
→ Aramaic: קַצְרָא (qaṣrā) / ܩܰܨܪܳܐ (qaṣrā)
- → Arabic: قَصْر (qaṣr)
  - Hijazi Arabic: قصر (gaṣur)
  - Moroccan Arabic: قصر (qṣar)
    - → English: ksar
    - → French: ksar
  - → Italian: cassero, cassaro
  - → Old Catalan: alcacer
    - Catalan: alcàsser
  - → Old Galician-Portuguese: alcaçar, alcaçer
    - Galician: alcácer
    - Portuguese: alcácer
  - → Old Spanish: alcaçar, alcacer
    - Spanish: alcázar (see there for further descendants)
  - → Persian: قصر (qasr)
    - Tajik: қаср (qasr)
    - → Ottoman Turkish: قصر
      - Turkish: kasır
    - → Uzbek: qasr
  - → Sicilian: càssaru
  - → Swahili: kasri
  - → Uyghur: قەسىر (qesir)
→ Berber [languages?]: aɣasru, ɣasru
→ Byzantine Greek: κάστρον (kástron)
- Greek: κάστρο n (kástro)
  - → Coptic: ⲕⲁⲥⲧⲣⲟⲩ (kastrou), ⲕⲁⲥⲧⲣⲟⲛ (kastron)
  - → Aromanian: castru
→ English: castrum
→ Hebrew: קְצָרָה (qəṣārā)
→ Old English: ceaster
- Middle English: Chestre
  - English: -caster, -cester, -chester, Chester
→ Romanian: castru

^ 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, pages 97-8
^ Olsen, Birgit Anette (1988), The Proto-Indo-European Instrument Noun Suffix *-tlom and its Variants (Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser; 55), Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, →ISBN, page 16: “3.1.1. *k̂əs-trom/*-trah₂ “cutting tool””

“castrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“castrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"castrum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
“castrum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- veterans; experienced troops: qui magnum in castris usum habent
- to disarm a person: armis (castris) exuere aliquem
- to leave troops to guard the camp: praesidio castris milites relinquere
- to mount guard in the camp: vigilias agere in castris (Verr. 4. 43)
- to keep the troops in camp: copias castris continere
- to remain inactive in camp: se (quietum) tenere castris
“castrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 586