saeculum

English

Etymology

Learned borrowingfromLatinsaeculum.

Noun

saeculum(pluralsaeculumsorsaecula)

1. A length of time roughly equal to thepotentiallifetimeof ahuman beingor, equivalently, the completerenewalof a humanpopulation.
2. Anapproximately85 yearcycleinStrauss-Howe generational theory,a highlycontroversialsociologicaltheorythatpostulatesthatzeitgeistandpopularculturalvaluesexist along recurring cycles.

Latin

Alternative forms

• saeclum(poetic)
• sēclum(poetic,rare)
• sēculum(poetic,rare)

Etymology

Probably from*sh₂ey-(“to bind, knit, tie together, tie to, connect”)+*-tlom(instrumental suffix)(whenceLatin-culum), in the sense of successive generations being linked together over time.CompareLithuaniansėkla(“seed”),Proto-Celtic*saitlom(“life, age”),GaulishSētlocenia,Hittite[script needed](išhi-,“to bind”),Sanskritसि(si,“to bind”).

An alternative theory derives the word fromProto-Indo-European*seh₁-(“to sow”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin)IPA^(key):/ˈsae̯.ku.lum/,[ˈs̠äe̯kʊɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical)IPA^(key):/ˈse.ku.lum/,[ˈsɛːkulum]

Noun

saeculumn(genitivesaeculī);second declension

1. race,breed
2. generation,lifetime
3. the amount of time between an occurrence and the death of the final person who was alive at, or witness to, that occurrence
4. age,time,thetimes,anera
   • 8CE,Ovid,Fasti1.191–192:

     rīsit et ‘ō quam tē fallunt tuasaecula,’ dīxit
     ‘quī stipe mel sūmpta dulcius esse putēs!’

     He smiled, and said: ‘‘Oh, how wrong you are about yourera,
     if you think honey is sweeter than taking up money!’’

5. century
6. worldliness;theworld

Declension

Second-declensionnoun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	saeculum	saecula
Genitive	saeculī	saeculōrum
Dative	saeculō	saeculīs
Accusative	saeculum	saecula
Ablative	saeculō	saeculīs
Vocative	saeculum	saecula

Derived terms

• in saecula saeculorum
• in saeculum
• saeculāris

Descendants

• →Albanian:shekull
• →Aragonese:sieglo(semi-learned)
• →Asturian:sieglu(semi-learned)
• →Corsican:seculu(semi-learned)
• →English:saeculum,secle
• Fala:siglu
• →Galician:século
• Old Piedmontese:sevol
• →Interlingua:seculo
• →Italian:secolo(semi-learned)
• Neapolitan:seculo
• →Old French:ciecle, secle, sekle, sicle, siecle; seule(early)(semi-learned)
  • Middle French:siecle
    • French:siècle,siecle(obsolete)
      • Haitian Creole:syèk
    • Norman:siaeclle(Guernsey),siècl'ye(Jersey)
• →Old Irish:saegul
  • Irish:saol
  • Manx:seihll
  • Scottish Gaelic:saoghal
• Old Occitan:segle
  • Catalan:segle
  • Occitan:Sắc gle,Sắc cle,siècle
• →Old Galician-Portuguese:seglo, segre(semi-learned)
• →Old Spanish:siclo, sieglo, siglo(semi-learned)
  • Spanish:siglo
    • →Cebuano:siglo
    • →Kabuverdianu:seklu
    • →Papiamentu:siglo
    • →Tagalog:siglo
• →Portuguese:século
• →Romanian:secol
• →Sicilian:Sắc culu(semi-learned)
  • →Maltese:seklu
• →Swedish:sekel
• →Waray-Waray:siglo

References

• “saeculum”,inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary,Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “saeculum”,inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary,New York: Harper & Brothers
• saeculumin Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis(augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• saeculuminGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français,Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894)Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1],London:Macmillan and Co.
  • the spirit of the times, the fashion:saeculiconsuetudoorratio atque inclinatio temporis (temporum)
    
  • universal history:omnis memoria, omnis memoria aetatum, temporum, civitatumoromnium rerum, gentium, temporum, saeculorum memoria
    
• “saeculum”,inHarry Thurston Peck, editor (1898),Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities,New York: Harper & Brothers
• “saeculum”,inWilliam Smith et al., editor (1890),A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Watkins, Calvert(1985) “sē-”,inThe American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots,Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Tucker, T.G., Etymological Dictionary of Latin, Ares Publishers, 1976 (reprint of 1931 edition).
• Sihler, Andrew L.(1995)New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin,Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press,→ISBN