sceptrum

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σκῆπτρον (skêptron), derived from σκήπτω (skḗptō, “to press one thing against another”) +‎ -τρον (-tron, instrument noun suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈskeːp.trum/, [ˈs̠keːpt̪rʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈʃep.trum/, [ˈʃɛpt̪rum]

Noun

scēptrum n (genitive scēptrī); second declension

1. sceptre (royal staff, symbol of authority)
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.56–57:

     [...] celsā sedet Aeolus arce
     scēptra tenēns, mollitque animōs et temperat īrās.

     [King] Aeolus sits in his high citadel, holding his scepter, and [he is] soothing the passions [of the winds] and tempering their angry spirits.
     (Figuratively, by holding his scepter the king is wielding his authority. Note the poetic plural [sceptra] used in place of the singular [sceptrum]. See Aeolus (son of Hippotes).)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	scēptrum	scēptra
Genitive	scēptrī	scēptrōrum
Dative	scēptrō	scēptrīs
Accusative	scēptrum	scēptra
Ablative	scēptrō	scēptrīs
Vocative	scēptrum	scēptra

Derived terms

• scēptrifer
• scēptriger

Descendants

• → English: scepter
• → French: sceptre
• → German: Zepter
• → Italian: scettro
• → Portuguese: cetro, ceptro
• Spanish: cetro

References

• “sceptrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sceptrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sceptrum 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)
• sceptrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “sceptrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “sceptrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin