claustrum

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin claustrum (“a bolt, bar”). Doublet of cloister.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklɔːstɹəm/

Noun

claustrum (plural claustra)

1. (neuroanatomy) A thin, irregular sheet of grey matter underneath the inner part of the neocortex on both sides of the brains of mammals; its exact function is not understood, but it is believed to facilitate coordination between senses
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:claustrum.

Related terms

• claustral
• claustrophobia
• claustrophilia

Translations

sheet of grey matter

• Finnish: aivomuuri
• German: Vormauer f, Claustrum n
• Italian: claustro m
• Latin: claustrum n (New Latin)
• Polish: przedmurze n

Latin

Etymology

Consists of claud- (“to close, enclose”) +‎ -trum. From Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂ud- (“key, hook, nail”) + *-trom (“instrumental suffix”), related to Latin clāvis (“key”), clāvus (“nail, peg”), claustra (“dam, wall, barricade, stronghold”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, bolt, key”), Old High German sliozan (“to close, conclude, lock”), Old Saxon slūtan (“to close, conclude, lock”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈklau̯s.trum/, [ˈkɫ̪äu̯s̠t̪rʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈklau̯s.trum/, [ˈkläu̯st̪rum]

Noun

claustrum n (genitive claustrī); second declension

1. (rare, usually in the plural) a bar, band, bolt
2. gate, door, bulwark
3. enclosure (confined space)
4. cloister (especially in plural)
5. (Medieval Latin) portion of monastery closed off to laity
6. (New Latin) claustrum (thin lamina of grey matter in each cerebral hemisphere of the human brain)

Usage notes

• Singular forms are almost never encountered; this noun is usually plural.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	claustrum	claustra
Genitive	claustrī	claustrōrum
Dative	claustrō	claustrīs
Accusative	claustrum	claustra
Ablative	claustrō	claustrīs
Vocative	claustrum	claustra

Related terms

• claudō
• claustra
• clāvis
• clāvus
• claustrālis
• claustrāliter

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: *clostrum
  • Italian: chiostro, chiostra
  • Old French: cloistre
    • Middle French: cloistre
      • French: cloître, cloitre
        • → Russian: клуа́тр (kluátr)
        • → Ukrainian: клуа́тр (kluátr)
    • → Middle English: cloistre, cloister, closter, cloystre, cloyster, clostre, cloistir, cleystir, cloysture
      • English: cloister
      • Scots: closter (< closter)
  • Old Occitan:
    • Occitan: clastra
  • Rhaeto-Romance:
    • Friulian: clustris
    • Romansch: clostra
  • Venetian: giostro
• → Catalan: claustre
• → English: claustrum, claustral, claustrophobia
• → Friulian: claustri
• → Galician: claustro, caustra (semi-learned)
• → Hungarian: klastrum, kalastorom, kolostor
• → Italian: claustro
• → Old Norse: klaustr
  • Icelandic: klaustur
  • Faroese: kleystur
  • Norwegian: kloster
  • Old Swedish: kloster, kløster
    • Swedish: kloster
    • → Finnish: luostari
  • Danish: kloster
• → Polish: claustrum, klaustrum
• → Portuguese: claustro
• → Romanian: claustru
• → Romansch: claustra
• → Spanish: claustro
• West Germanic languages (borrowed post-Proto-West Germanic):
  • → Old English: clauster, clūstor
  • → Old Frisian: klāster
    • West Frisian: kleaster
  • → Old Saxon: *klōstar
    • Middle Low German: klôster
      • Plautdietsch: Kloosta
      • → Estonian: klooster
      • → Latvian: klosteris
  • → Old Dutch: *clōster
    • Middle Dutch: clôoster
      • Dutch: klooster
      • Limburgish: kloeaster
  • → Old High German: klōstar
    • Middle High German: klōster
      • Alemannic German: Chlooster
      • Bavarian: Klosta
      • German: Kloster
        • → Serbo-Croatian:

          Cyrillic script: клоштер, клоштар

          Latin script: klošter, kloštar

      • Luxembourgish: Klouschter
      • → Czech: klášter
        • → Polish: klasztor
      • → Slovak: kláštor

See also

• claustra

References

• “claustrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “claustrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• claustrum 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)
• claustrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to break down the gates: claustra portarum revellere
    
• “claustrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• claustrum in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “claustrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin