compitum
Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
Etymology tree
From con- (“with”) + petō (“to seek, aim at”).; compare competō (“to come together”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkɔm.pɪ.tũː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkɔm.pi.tum]
Noun
compitum n (genitive compitī); second declension
- (chiefly in the plural) crossroads
- 63 BC, Cicero, De Lege Agraria[1], 1.3.7:
- At hoc etiam nēquissimī hominēs consūmptīs patrimōniīs faciunt ut in ātriīs auctiōnāriīs potius quam in triviīs aut in compitīs auctiōnentur; [...]
- But even the most worthless people do this when their inheritances are used up, so that they hold their auctions in auction halls rather than on the street or on the intersections...
- c. 1 AD, Livy, Ab Urbe Condita[2], section 27.4:
- Multa eā aestāte quā haec facta sunt ex propinquīs urbibus agrīsque nūntiāta sunt prōdigia: [...] avēs ad compitum Anagnīnum in lūcō Diānae nīdōs in arboribus relīquisse [...]
- In the summer when these things happened, many portents were reported from the nearby cities and countryside: ... that the birds by a crossroads at Anagnia, in the grove of Diana, had abandoned their nests in the trees...
- c. 90 AD, Martial, Epigrams, 7.97.9-13:
- Ō quantum tibi nōminis parātur!
Ō quae glōria! quam frequens amātor!
Tē convīvia, tē forum sonābit,
Aedēs, compita, porticus, tabernae.
Ūnī mitteris, omnibus legēris.- O, what a great name is being prepared for you!
O, what glory! How many lovers!
Banquets and the forum will talk about you,
temples, crossroads, porticos, taverns.
You are being sent to one man; you will be read to all.
- O, what a great name is being prepared for you!
Usage notes
Usually of crossroads in a city, rather than in the country.
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | compitum | compita |
| genitive | compitī | compitōrum |
| dative | compitō | compitīs |
| accusative | compitum | compita |
| ablative | compitō | compitīs |
| vocative | compitum | compita |
Related terms
Descendants
References
- “compitum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “compitum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “compitum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
- Hercules at the cross-roads, between virtue and vice: Hercules in trivio, in bivio, in compitis
- Hercules at the cross-roads, between virtue and vice: Hercules in trivio, in bivio, in compitis