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testudo. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
testudo, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
testudo in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
testudo you have here. The definition of the word
testudo will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
testudo, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin testūdō (“tortoise, turtle, lyre, type of military shelter”).
Noun
testudo (plural testudos or testudoes or testudines)
- (Ancient Rome, military, historical) A shelter formed by a body of troops holding their shields or targets close together over their heads.
- Synonym: sheltron
- A shelter of similar shape for miners, etc.
- (anatomy) The fornix.
- (music) A kind of lyre; so called in allusion to the lyre of Mercury, fabled to have been made of the shell of a tortoise.
- (pathology) An encysted tumour.
Translations
shelter formed by a body of troops holding their shields or targets close together over their heads
Anagrams
Esperanto
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin testūdō (“tortoise”).
Pronunciation
Noun
testudo (accusative singular testudon, plural testudoj, accusative plural testudojn)
- tortoise
- turtle
- Synonym: kelonio
Derived terms
Latin
Etymology
From testa (“fragment of earthenware; shell or covering”).
Pronunciation
Noun
testūdō f (genitive testūdinis); third declension
- tortoise, turtle
- tortoise-shell
- (by extension) lyre, lute
- (by extension, military) covering, shed, shelter
- (by extension, in buildings) arch, vault
29 BCE – 19 BCE,
Virgil,
Aeneid 1.505–506:
- Tum foribus dīvae, mediā testūdine templī,
saepta armīs, soliōque altē subnīxa resēdit.- Then, doorway of the goddess , in the middle beneath the vault of the temple, surrounded by armed guards, and supported by the lofty throne, remained seated.
Declension
Third-declension noun.
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “testudo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “testudo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- testudo 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)
- testudo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to advance to the walls protected by a covering of shields: testudine facta moenia subire (B. G. 2. 6)
- “testudo”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- testudo in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
- “testudo”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
Portuguese
Etymology
From testa + -udo
Pronunciation
Adjective
testudo (feminine testuda, masculine plural testudos, feminine plural testudas)
- (of a person or animal) having a big forehead