Etymology
From fossō (“to dig”).
Noun
fossātum n (genitive fossātī); second declension
- (from 3rd century CE) trench particularly for military use, a ditch especially in earthwork fortifications
- (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) fortification around trenches; camp, military base
- (Medieval Latin, Hispania) army, camp
Descendants
- Aromanian: fusate, fusati
- Catalan: fossat
- Dalmatian: *fosát
- → Serbo-Croatian: fosat, fusat, fusot, pȍsāt
- Italian: fossato
- Old French: fossé
- Old Galician-Portuguese: fossado
- Old Spanish: fonsado, fonssado; fosado
- Sicilian: fussatu
- → Ancient Greek: φοσσᾶτον (phossâton), φουσσᾶτον (phoussâton, “encampment”)
References
- “fossatum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- fossatum 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)
- fossatum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Johannes Kramer (2010) “φοσσᾶτον / fossatum”, in Von der Papyrologie zur Romanistik (Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete; Beiheft 30), De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 350 seqq.