actus

English

Etymology

From Latin āctus (“a cattle drive; a cattle path; units of length and area”). Doublet of act.

Noun

actus (plural actus or acti)

1. (historical units of measure) A former Roman unit of length, equal to 120 Roman feet (about 35.5 m)
2. (historical units of measure) A former Roman unit of area, equivalent to a square with sides of 1 actus (about 0.125 ha)

Meronyms

• (units of area): juger, jugerum (2 acti)

References

• "actus, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Anagrams

• scuta

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

actus f

1. plural of actu

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈaːk.tus/, [ˈäːkt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈak.tus/, [ˈäkt̪us]

Etymology 1

Perfect passive participle of agō (“make, do”). Compare Sanskrit अक्त (akta, “driven”).

Participle

āctus (feminine ācta, neuter āctum); first/second-declension participle

1. made, done, having been done.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	āctus	ācta	āctum		āctī	āctae	ācta
Genitive	āctī	āctae	āctī		āctōrum	āctārum	āctōrum
Dative	āctō		āctō		āctīs
Accusative	āctum	āctam	āctum		āctōs	āctās	ācta
Ablative	āctō	āctā	āctō		āctīs
Vocative	ācte	ācta	āctum		āctī	āctae	ācta

Etymology 2

From agō (“I do, make, drive”) +‎ -tus (suffix forming fourth declension action nouns from verbs).

Noun

āctus m (genitive āctūs); fourth declension

1. act, action, doing, deed

   Synonyms: āctiō, factum, rēs, gestum, facinus

   actum est de aliquo ― It is over for someone, the fate of someone is sealed

2. performance, behavior
3. a cattle drive, the act of driving cattle or a cart
4. a cattle path or narrow cart track
5. (historical units of measure) actus (a former Roman unit of length equal to 120 Roman feet (about 35.5 m))
6. (historical units of measure) actus (a former Roman unit of area equivalent to a square with sides of 1 actus (about 0.125 ha))

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	āctus	āctūs
Genitive	āctūs	āctuum
Dative	āctuī	āctibus
Accusative	āctum	āctūs
Ablative	āctū	āctibus
Vocative	āctus	āctūs

Meronyms

• (unit of length): pēs (¹⁄₁₂₀ āctūs)
• (unit of area): decempeda (¹⁄₁₄₄ āctūs); clima (¹⁄₄ āctūs); iugerum (2 āctūs); hērēdium (4 āctūs); centuria (400 āctūs); saltus (1600 āctūs)

Derived terms

• āctuārius
• āctuōsus
• āctūtum

Related terms

• ācta

Descendants

• → Aragonese: acto
• → Asturian: actu
• → Catalan: acte
• Corsican: attu
• → French: acte
  • → Romanian: act
• Friulian: at
• → Galician: acto
• → German: Akt
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: akt
  • → Polish: akt (semantic loan)
• → Middle Irish: acht
  • Irish: acht
  • Manx: aght
  • Scottish Gaelic: achd
• Italian: atto
• Neapolitan: atto
• → Norwegian Bokmål: akt
• → Occitan: acte
• → Old French: acte
  • → English: act
• Old Galician-Portuguese: auto
  • Portuguese: auto
  • Galician: auto
• → Portuguese: ato
• → Romansch: act
• → Russian: акт m (akt)
• Sardinian: atu, attu
• Sicilian: attu
• Spanish: auto
• → Spanish: acto
• → Swedish: akt
• Venetian: ato

References

• “actus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “actus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• actus in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• actus 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)
• actus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • an act: actus
    
  • (ambiguous) I'm undone! it's all up with me: perii! actum est de me! (Ter. Ad. 3. 2. 26)
    
  • (ambiguous) to have all one's trouble for nothing: rem actam or simply actum agere (proverb.)
    
  • (ambiguous) rest after toil is sweet: acti labores iucundi (proverb.)
    
  • (ambiguous) it's all over with me; I'm a lost man: actum est de me
    
  • (ambiguous) a good conscience: conscientia recta, recte facti (factorum), virtutis, bene actae vitae, rectae voluntatis
    
  • (ambiguous) to declare a magistrate's decisions null and void: acta rescindere, dissolvere (Phil. 13. 3. 5)
    
  • (ambiguous) amnesty (ἀμνηρτία): ante actarum (praeteritarum) rerum oblivio or simply oblivio
    
• “actus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “actus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin