zodiacus

Latin

A 3rd century Roman mosaic containing images of the zodiac.

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ζῳδῐᾰκός (zōidiakós) κύκλος (kúklos, “little animal cycle”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /zoːˈdi.a.kus/, [d̪͡z̪oːˈd̪iäkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /d͡zoˈdi.a.kus/, [d̪͡z̪oˈd̪iːäkus]

Adjective

zōdiacus (feminine zōdiaca, neuter zōdiacum); first/second-declension adjective

1. of or pertaining to the zodiac

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	zōdiacus	zōdiaca	zōdiacum		zōdiacī	zōdiacae	zōdiaca
genitive	zōdiacī	zōdiacae	zōdiacī		zōdiacōrum	zōdiacārum	zōdiacōrum
dative	zōdiacō	zōdiacae	zōdiacō		zōdiacīs
accusative	zōdiacum	zōdiacam	zōdiacum		zōdiacōs	zōdiacās	zōdiaca
ablative	zōdiacō	zōdiacā	zōdiacō		zōdiacīs
vocative	zōdiace	zōdiaca	zōdiacum		zōdiacī	zōdiacae	zōdiaca

Noun

zōdiacus m (genitive zōdiacī); second declension

1. the zodiac
   • 1581, Christophori Clavii Bamburgensis ex Societate Iesu in Sphaeram Ioanis de Sacro Bosco Commentarius, page 59:

     Diuturna observatione deprehenderunt astronomi, caelos inferiores non moveri ab occasu in ortum super polos mundi, et per circulum aequinoctialem, sed super polos distinctos, nempe super zodiaci, et per circulum zodiacum.

     By long observation, astronomers have discovered that the lower heavens do not move from west into the east upon the world's poles and through the circle of the equinox, but upon different poles, specifically the poles of the zodiac, and through the zodiac circle.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	zōdiacus	zōdiacī
genitive	zōdiacī	zōdiacōrum
dative	zōdiacō	zōdiacīs
accusative	zōdiacum	zōdiacōs
ablative	zōdiacō	zōdiacīs
vocative	zōdiace	zōdiacī

Descendants

• Old French: zodiaque
  • French: zodiaque
  • Norman: zodiaque
  • → Middle English: zodiak
    • English: zodiac
  • → Classical Gaelic: stoidiace
    • Irish: stoidiaca

References

• “zodiacus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “zodiacus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• zodiacus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “zodiacus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers