arcanus

From arca + -ānus. Cognates include arceō (“to defend”), arx (“fortress”), arcera (“ambulance”), Old Armenian արգել (argel, “obstacle”) and Ancient Greek ἀρκέω (arkéō).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [arˈkaː.nʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [arˈkaː.nus]

arcānus (feminine arcāna, neuter arcānum); first/second-declension adjective

1. hidden, secret, private, mysterious

   Synonyms: obscūrus, secretus, occultus, clandestinus, perobscūrus

   Antonyms: conspicuus, manifestus

2. intimate, personal, confidential
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.421–423:

     “[...] Sōlam nam perfidus ille / tē colere, arcānōs etiam tibi crēdere sēnsūs; / sōla virī mollīs aditūs et tempora nōrās.”

     [Dido speaks to Anna:] “For that faithless [man] cherished you alone, even confided his intimate feelings to you, and only you have known how and when to gently approach him.”

3. trustworthy (to keep a secret)

First/second-declension adjective.

• arcānum
• arceō
• arx

• → Catalan: arcà
• → English: arcane
• → Galician: arcano
• → German: arkan
• → Italian: arcano
• → Portuguese: arcano
• → Romanian: arcan
• → Sicilian: arcanu
• → Spanish: arcano

• “arcanus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “arcanus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “arcanus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be present at secret consultations: consiliis arcanis interesse (Liv. 35. 18)