Wiktionary

exercitus

Latin edit

Etymology 1 edit

Perfect passive participle of exerceō (“to occupy oneself, oversee; work at, practice, exercise”), from ex- (“out of”) +‎ arceō (“to ward off, protect, guard”), from Proto-Italic *arkeō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂orké-ye-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk- (“to protect, guard”).

Pronunciation edit

Participle edit

exercitus (feminine exercita, neuter exercitum); first/second-declension participle

  1. occupied, exercised, practised
  2. vexed, harassed
  3. vexatious, severe
  4. disciplined
Declension edit

First/second-declension adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative exercitus exercita exercitum exercitī exercitae exercita
Genitive exercitī exercitae exercitī exercitōrum exercitārum exercitōrum
Dative exercitō exercitō exercitīs
Accusative exercitum exercitam exercitum exercitōs exercitās exercita
Ablative exercitō exercitā exercitō exercitīs
Vocative exercite exercita exercitum exercitī exercitae exercita

Etymology 2 edit

From exerceō (“to occupy oneself, oversee; work at, practice, exercise”) +‎ -tus (action noun forming suffix).

Noun edit

exercitus m (genitive exercitūs); fourth declension

  1. an exercised, disciplined body of men, an army
    • 4th century AD, St. Jerome, Vulgate, Book of Joshua 8.1–13, (Trans. Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner rev. Link to Josue (Joshua) Chapter 8 in parallel Latin Vulgate & English Douay-Rheims):
      Dīxit autem Dominus ad Jōsue: Nē timeās, neque formīdēs: tolle tēcum omnem multitūdinem pugnātōrum, et cōnsurgēns ascende in oppidum Hāī. Ecce trādidī in manū tuā rēgem ējus, et populum, urbemque et terram. Faciēsque urbī Haī, et rēgī ējus, sīcut fēcistī Jerichō, et rēgī illīus: prædam vērō, et omnia animantia dīripiētis vōbīs: pōne īnsidiās urbī post eam. Surrēxitque Jōsue, et omnis exercitus bellātōrum cum eō, ut ascenderent in Hāī: et ēlēcta trīgintā mīllia virōrum fortium mīsit nocte, præcēpitque eīs, dīcēns: Pōnite īnsidiās post cīvitātem: nec longius recēdātis: et eritis omnēs parātī. Ego autem, et reliqua multitūdō, quæ mēcum est, accēdēmus ex adversō contrā urbem. Cumque exierint contrā nōs, sīcut ante fēcimus: fugiēmus, et terga vertēmus, dōnec persequentēs ab urbe longius prōtrahantur: putābunt enim nōs fugere sīcut prius. Nōbīs ergō fugientibus, et illīs persequentibus, cōnsurgētis dē īnsidiīs, et vastābitis cīvitātem: trādetque eam Dominus Deus vester in manūs vestrās. Cumque cēperitis, succendite eam, et sīc omnia faciētis, ut jussī. Dīmīsitque eōs, et perrēxērunt ad locum īnsidiārum, sēdēruntque inter Bethel et Hāī, ad occidentālem plāgam urbis Hāī: Jōsue autem nocte illā in mediō mānsit populī, surgēnsque dīlūculō recēnsuit sociōs, et ascendit cum seniōribus in fronte exercitūs, vāllātus auxiliō pugnātōrum. Cumque vēnissent et ascendissent ex adversō cīvitātis, stetērunt ad septentriōnālem urbis plāgam, inter quam et eōs erat vallis media. Quīnque autem mīllia virōs ēlēgerat, et posuerat in īnsidiīs inter Bethel et Hāī ex occidentālī parte ējusdem cīvitātis: omnis vērō reliquus exercitus ad aquilōnem aciem dīrigēbat, ita ut novissimī illīus multitūdinis occidentālem plāgam urbis attingerent. Abiit ergō Jōsue nocte illā, et stetit in vallīs mediō.
      The Lord said to Josue: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise and go up to the town of Hai. Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land. And thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils and all the cattle you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush for the city behind it. And Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant men in the night, And commanded them, saying: Lay an ambush behind the city: and go not very far from it: and be ye all ready. But I and the rest of the multitude which is with me; will approach on the contrary side against the city. And when they shall come out against us, we will flee, and turn our backs, as we did before: Till they pursuing us be drawn farther from the city: for they will think that we flee as before. And whilst we are fleeing, and they pursuing, you shall arise out of the ambush, and shall destroy the city: and the Lord your God will deliver it into our hands. And when you shall have taken it, set it on fire, and you shall do all things so as I have commanded. And he sent them away, and they went on to the place of the ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city of Hai. But Josue stayed that night in the midst of the people, And rising early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and went up with the ancients in the front of the army environed with the aid of the fighting men. And when they were come, and were gone up over against the city, they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there was a valley in the midst. And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city: But all the rest of the army went in battle array on the north side, so that the last of that multitude reached to the west side of the city. So Josue went that night, and stood in the midst of the valley.
  2. the assembly of the people in the Centuria Comitiata, as being a military organization
  3. (poetic) a multitude, host, swarm, flock
  4. a troop, body of attendants
  5. trouble, affliction
Declension edit

Fourth-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative exercitus exercitūs
Genitive exercitūs exercituum
Dative exercituī exercitibus
Accusative exercitum exercitūs
Ablative exercitū exercitibus
Vocative exercitus exercitūs
Descendants edit

References edit

  • “exercitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “exercitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • exercitus 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)
  • exercitus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 624.
  • exercitus in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 2549
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to provide corn-supplies for the troops: frumentum providere exercitui
    • to place some one at the head of an army, give him the command: praeficere aliquem exercitui
    • to be at the head of an army: praeesse exercitui
    • (ambiguous) to raise an army: exercitum conficere (Imp. Pomp. 21. 61)
    • (ambiguous) to levy troops: milites (exercitum) scribere, conscribere
    • (ambiguous) to equip an army, troops: parare exercitum, copias
    • (ambiguous) to support an army: alere exercitum (Off. 1. 8. 25)
    • (ambiguous) to review an army: recensere, lustrare, recognoscere exercitum (Liv. 42. 31)
    • (ambiguous) to disband an army: dimittere exercitum
    • (ambiguous) a numerous army: ingens, maximus exercitus (not numerosus)
    • (ambiguous) soldiers collected in haste; irregulars: milites tumultuarii (opp. exercitus iustus) (Liv. 35. 2)
    • (ambiguous) mercenary troops: milites mercennarii or exercitus conducticius
    • (ambiguous) to advance with the army: procedere cum exercitu
    • (ambiguous) to march down on to..: agmen, exercitum demittere in...
    • (ambiguous) to advance on..: exercitum admovere, adducere ad...
    • (ambiguous) to lead the army to the fight: exercitum educere or producere in aciem
    • (ambiguous) to draw up forces in battle-order: aciem (copias, exercitum) instruere or in acie constituere
    • (ambiguous) to annihilate, cut up the enemy, an army: hostes, exercitum delere, concīdere
    • (ambiguous) the victorious army: exercitus victor
    • (ambiguous) to embark an army: exercitum in naves imponere (Liv. 22. 19)
  • “exercitus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “exercitus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
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