directus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *dwizrektos, perfect passive participle of dīrigō (“lay straight; direct; distribute”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /diːˈreːk.tus/, [d̪iːˈreːkt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /diˈrek.tus/, [d̪iˈrɛkt̪us]

Adjective

dīrēctus (feminine dīrēcta, neuter dīrēctum); first/second-declension participle

1. laid straight, arranged in lines, having been arranged in lines
2. (by extension) direct, straight; level; upright
3. directed, steered, having been directed
4. distributed, scattered, having been distributed

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	dīrēctus	dīrēcta	dīrēctum		dīrēctī	dīrēctae	dīrēcta
Genitive	dīrēctī	dīrēctae	dīrēctī		dīrēctōrum	dīrēctārum	dīrēctōrum
Dative	dīrēctō		dīrēctō		dīrēctīs
Accusative	dīrēctum	dīrēctam	dīrēctum		dīrēctōs	dīrēctās	dīrēcta
Ablative	dīrēctō	dīrēctā	dīrēctō		dīrēctīs
Vocative	dīrēcte	dīrēcta	dīrēctum		dīrēctī	dīrēctae	dīrēcta

Descendants

• Italian: diritto
• Sardinian: diritu
• Sicilian: dirittu
• Venetan: dirito
• → Albanian: drejtë
• → Asturian: directu
• → Catalan: direct
• → Danish: direkte
• → Dutch: direct
• → English: direct
• → French: direct
• → Friulian: diret
• → German: direkt
• → Italian: diretto
• → Ladin: diret
• → Norman: direct
• → Occitan: directe
• → Old Irish: díriuch, díriug
  • Irish: díreach
  • Manx: jeeragh
  • Scottish Gaelic: dìreach
• → Portuguese: direto
• → Romanian: direct
• → Spanish: directo
• → Swedish: direkt
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *dērēctus (see there for further descendants)
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *dīrēctiāre (see there for further descendants)
• ⇒ Late Latin: drictus (see there for further descendants)

References

• “directus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• directus 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)
• directus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • in a straight line: recta (regione, via); in directum