carcer

See also: càrcer

Latin

Etymology

Derived from Proto-Italic *karkros, from Proto-Indo-European *kr-kr- (“circular”), reduplication of *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”) in the sense of "enclosure", and as such a doublet of cancer. Cognate with circus, curvus, crux, crīnis, crispus, English ring. It is not known how the noun shifted to the third declension.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkar.ker/, [ˈkärkɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkar.t͡ʃer/, [ˈkärt͡ʃer]

Noun

carcer m (genitive carceris); third declension

1. prison, jail

   Synonyms: tenebrae, (Mediaeval) carcellāria

2. jailbird
3. traps (barriers at start of a horse race)
4. commencement, beginning
5. starting gate

   Ad carceres a calce revocari.

   To be called back from the finish line to the starting gates.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	carcer	carcerēs
Genitive	carceris	carcerum
Dative	carcerī	carceribus
Accusative	carcerem	carcerēs
Ablative	carcere	carceribus
Vocative	carcer	carcerēs

Derived terms

• carcerālis
• carcerārius
• carcereus
• carcerō
• incarcerō

 

Descendants

• Old Catalan: càrcer/carçre
  • Catalan: càrcer
• French: chartre
• Italian: carcere
• Old Galician-Portuguese: carcer, carcel
  • Galician: cárcere
  • Portuguese: cárcere
• Romanian: carceră
• Sicilian: càrzaru
• Asturian: cárcele, cárcel, alcárcel
• Old Spanish: carcel
  • Spanish: cárcel
• → Proto-Brythonic: *karxar
  • Middle Breton: carchar
  • Cornish: carhar
  • Middle Welsh: carchar
    • Welsh: carchar
• → German: Karzer (learned) (see there for further descendants)
• → Proto-West Germanic: *karkārī (see there for further descendants)
• →⇒ English: incarcerate (learned)
• → Gothic: 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌰 (karkara)
• → Old Irish: carcar (see there for further descendants)

References

• “carcer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “carcer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• carcer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to throw some one into prison: in carcerem conicere aliquem
    
• “carcer”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “carcer”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929) Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press
• “carcer”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Old Galician-Portuguese

Alternative forms

• carcel

Etymology

From Latin carcer, carcerem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaɾ.t͡seɾ/

Noun

carcer f (plural carcers)

1. jail, prison
   • 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 149 (facsimile):

     eu te rogo / ſeñor que me tu leues Deſta carcer eſcura / E que ueia no Ceo a ta face velida.

     Lady, I beg you, please take me out of this dark prison and let me see your beautiful face in Heaven.

Descendants

• Galician: cárcere
• Portuguese: cárcere