castrum

== English == === Etymology === Borrowed from Latin castrum. Doublet of Caister, Chester, ksar, and qasr. === Noun === castrum (plural castra) (historical) Among the Ancient Romans, a building or plot of land used as a military defensive position. == Latin == === Etymology === From Proto-Italic *kastrom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut, cut off, separate”) +‎ Proto-Indo-European *-trom (Latin -trum) (Watkins, 1969). Cognate with Sanskrit शस्त्र (śastrá, “cutting tool, sword”). See also castrō, careō. === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkas.trũː] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkas.trum] === Noun === castrum n (genitive castrī); second declension castle, fort, fortress (chiefly in the plural) several soldiers' tents situated together; hence, a military camp, an encampment ==== Usage notes ==== Use in singular is rarer than that of castellum. ==== Declension ==== Second-declension noun (neuter). ==== Derived terms ==== castellum castra ==== Descendants ==== === References === === Further reading === “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, 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. “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