sceptrum

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σκῆπτρον (skêptron), derived from σκήπτω (skḗptō, “to press one thing against another”) +‎ -τρον (-tron, instrument noun suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈskeːp.trũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈʃɛp.trum]

Noun

scēptrum n (genitive scēptrī); second declension

1. sceptre (royal staff, symbol of authority)
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.56–57:

     [...] celsā sedet Aeolus arce
     scēptra tenēns, mollitque animōs et temperat īrās.

     [King] Aeolus sits in his high citadel, holding his scepter, and [he is] soothing the passions [of the winds] and tempering their angry spirits.
     (Figuratively, by holding his scepter the king is wielding his authority. Note the poetic plural [sceptra] used in place of the singular [sceptrum]. See Aeolus (son of Hippotes).)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	scēptrum	scēptra
genitive	scēptrī	scēptrōrum
dative	scēptrō	scēptrīs
accusative	scēptrum	scēptra
ablative	scēptrō	scēptrīs
vocative	scēptrum	scēptra

Derived terms

• scēptrifer
• scēptriger

Descendants

• → English: scepter
• → French: sceptre
• → Galician: cetro
• → German: Zepter
• → Italian: scettro
• → Romanian: sceptru
• → Portuguese: cetro, ceptro
• → Spanish: cetro

References

• “sceptrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sceptrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "sceptrum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “sceptrum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “sceptrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “sceptrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin