hemicyclium

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἡμῐκῠ́κλῐον (hēmikúklion, “semicircle”), substantive of ἡμῐκῠ́κλῐος (hēmikúklios, “semicircular”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /heː.miˈky.kli.um/, [heːmɪˈkʏklʲiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.miˈt͡ʃi.kli.um/, [emiˈt͡ʃiːklium]

Noun

hēmicyclium n (genitive hēmicycliī or hēmicyclī); second declension

1. half circle, semicircle
   • 61 CE – c. 112 CE, Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 5.6.33:

     Rectus hic hippodromi limes in extrema parte hemicyclio frangitur mutatque faciem

     Here, the straight boundary of the hippodrome is broken and changes its appearance at the far end with a semicircular shape

   Synonym: hēmicyclus

   1. semicircular recess with seats
      • 44 BCE, Cicero, Laelius de Amicitia 2:

        domi in hemicyclio sedentem

        I sat at home in the semicircular alcove

   2. semicircular public place furnished with rows of seats for learned discussions
      • c. 69 CE – 122 CE, Suetonius, Lives of the Grammarians 17:

        Statuam habet Praeneste in superiore fori parte circa hemicyclium

        It has a statue in Praeneste, in the upper part of the forum, around the semicircular area

   3. semicircular kind of sundial
      • c. 15 BCE, Vitruvius, De architectura 9.8.1:

        Hemicyclium excavatum ex quadrato ad enclimaque succisum Berosus Chaldaeus dicitur invenisse

        The excavated semicircular sundial, shaped from a square to a sloping form, is said to have been invented by the Chaldean Berosus

Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hēmicyclium	hēmicyclia
Genitive	hēmicycliī hēmicyclī1	hēmicycliōrum
Dative	hēmicycliō	hēmicycliīs
Accusative	hēmicyclium	hēmicyclia
Ablative	hēmicycliō	hēmicycliīs
Vocative	hēmicyclium	hēmicyclia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Related terms

• hēmicyclus (substantive)

Descendants

• → English: hemicycle
• → French: hémicycle

References

• “hemicyclium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press