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castus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
castus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
castus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
castus you have here. The definition of the word
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Latin
Etymology
Verbal adjective from the same root of careō (“I lack”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut”). Compare the meanings of pūrus/putus and derived putō. Related to Etruscan 𐌂𐌀𐌔𐌕𐌂𐌄 (castce).
Pronunciation
Adjective
castus (feminine casta, neuter castum, comparative castior, superlative castissimus, adverb castē); first/second-declension adjective
- morally pure, guiltless, spotless
- Synonyms: innoxius, īnsōns, innocēns
- Antonyms: reus, obnoxius, noxius, cōnscius
- especially in regard to sexual morality: pure, chaste, unpolluted, virtuous, continent
8 CE,
Ovid,
Fasti 4.307–308:
- casta quidem, sed nōn et crēdita: rūmor inīquus
laeserat, et falsī crīminis ācta rea est.- Chaste, indeed, and yet had not been believed :
unjust slander had wronged her, and she was charged on a false accusation.
(See Claudia Quinta.)
- pure, free from barbarisms
- in a religious context: religious, pious, holy, sacred
Declension
First/second-declension adjective.
Derived terms
Descendants
Noun
castus m (genitive castūs); fourth declension
- (pre-Classical, post-Classical) an abstinence from sensual enjoyments on religious grounds
Declension
Fourth-declension noun.
Synonyms
Derived terms
References
- “castus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “castus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- castus 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)
- castus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN