Etymology
Tentatively thought to derive from a Proto-Italic *sīþos (“mark, target”), with a putative semantic shift (from hunters' jargon) from "target" > "star". Further origin unclear, with multiple theories proposed:[1]
- Some derive this from Proto-Indo-European *sweyd- (“sweat”), whence Latin sūdor, Ancient Greek ἱδρώς (hidrṓs), English sweat; however there are phonetic problems, most notably the initial /s/ in Greek instead of expected */h/.
- Rix, connecting the word to Ancient Greek ῑ̓θῠ́ς (īthús, “straight, just”) and Sanskrit साध् (sādh, “to go straight to a goal”), derives the terms from a Proto-Indo-European *seHdʰ- (“to achieve a goal”), and the Latin from a reduplicative form *si-sHdʰ-u- > *sisdʰu- > *sizdu- > *sīdu-. This is semantically tenuous.
- Compare Ancient Greek σίδηρος (sídēros, “iron”). This is semantically unconvincing.
- Possibly borrowed from a substrate.
- Perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European *sh₂i-dʰh₁-o- (“binding”), from *sh₂ey- (“to bind, tie, fasten”), whence saeculum (“age, race, generation”). De Vaan tentatively prefers this derivation.
Noun
sīdus n (genitive sīderis); third declension
- group of stars, constellation, asterism
8 CE,
Ovid,
Fasti 1.457–458:
- Intereā Delphīn clārum super aequora sīdus tollitur
- Meanwhile the Dolphin, a bright constellation, is being risen over the surface of the sea
- a star
- Synonyms: astēr, astrum, stēlla
- (poetic) the night sky
- (figuratively) a season (of the year)
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
More information Case, Singular ...
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References
- “sidus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “sidus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- sidus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- a star-light night: nox sideribus illustris
- the fixed stars: sidera certis locis infixa
- astronomy: astrologia (pure Latin sidera, caelestia)
- an astronomer: spectator siderum, rerum caelestium or astrologus
- “sidus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “sidus”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “sīdus-, -eris”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 562-3
