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crepusculum

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From Latin crepusculum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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crepusculum (uncountable)

  1. crepuscule; twilight; dusk
    [Earthshine] should appear more splendid and be visible after the crepusculum in the dark of night.

Synonyms

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References

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Latin

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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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

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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

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Second-declension noun (neuter).

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

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References

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  • 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