crepusculum

English

Etymology

From Latin crepusculum.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɹɪˈpʌs.kjʊ.ləm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɹɪˈpʌs.kjə.ləm/
• Rhymes: -ʌskjʊləm

Noun

crepusculum (uncountable)

1. crepuscule; twilight; dusk

   [Earthshine] should appear more splendid and be visible after the crepusculum in the dark of night.

Synonyms

• cockshut, mirkning, nightfall; see also Thesaurus:dusk

Related terms

• crepuscular

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “crepusculum”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Latin

Etymology

Ultimately Unknown. Possibly from *crepus, *crepes, or *crepos combined with the suffix -culus. One possibility holds that this originates in a Proto-Indo-European form *ksep, that became *ksep-os or *ksep-əs-, then *ksep-os before emerging as *crepus. This sound could be explained through the dissimilation of the initial *s or through a shift from *ks- to *kr-. Varro suggests the term derives from creper, which was itself borrowed from Sabine.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kreˈpus.ku.lum/, [krɛˈpʊskʊɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kreˈpus.ku.lum/, [kreˈpuskulum]

Noun

crepusculum n (genitive crepusculī); second declension

1. twilight, dusk
2. darkness
3. doubtful

   Synonym: dubium

   • 116 BCE – 27 BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.5:

     Secundum hoc dicitur crepusculum a crepero: id vocabulum sumpserunt a Sabinis, unde veniunt Crepusci nominati Amiterno, qui eo tempore erant nati, ut Lucii prima luce in Reatino; crepusculum significat dubium; ab eo res dictae dubiae creperae, quod crepusculum dies etiam nunc sit an iam nox multis dubium.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

In Medieval use (e.g., Bede), sometimes conceived as a particular period of evening lasting from sunset to vespers, the darker period of twilight when Venus and the stars began to appear.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	crepusculum	crepuscula
genitive	crepusculī	crepusculōrum
dative	crepusculō	crepusculīs
accusative	crepusculum	crepuscula
ablative	crepusculō	crepusculīs
vocative	crepusculum	crepuscula

Related terms

• creper
• creperum n

Descendants

• >? Galician: crepúsculo
• >? Italian: crepuscolo m
• >? Occitan: crepuscul m
• → Catalan: crepuscle m
• → Old French: crepuscule m
  • Middle French: crepuscule m
    • French: crépuscule m
      • → Romanian: crepuscul n
    • → English: crepuscule
• →? Portuguese: crepúsculo
• → Spanish: crepúsculo
• → English: crepusculum, crepuscular

References

• “crepusculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “crepusculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "crepusculum", 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)
• crepusculum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Annie Cecilia Burman (2018 March 24) De Lingua Sabina: A Reappraisal of the Sabine Glosses‎^[1], →DOI, pages 62-64
• Walter Petersen (1935) “Some Greek Examples of Word-Contamination”, in The American Journal of Philology‎^[2] (in Latin), volume 56, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 54–60