sextans

See also: Sextans

English

A sextans of the Roman Republic, circa 210 BC.

Etymology

From Latin sextāns, from sex (“six”).

Noun

sextans (plural sextantes)

1. (historical, Roman antiquity) A Roman coin worth one sixth of an as.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “sextans”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Latin numbers ^(edit)

←  5	VI 6	7  →
Cardinal: sex     Ordinal: sextus     Adverbial: sexiēs, sexiēns     Multiplier: sexuplus, sexuplex, sextuplus, seplex     Distributive: sēnī     Collective: sēniō     Fractional: sextāns

Etymology

From sex (“six”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsek.stans/, [ˈs̠ɛks̠t̪ä̃ːs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsek.stans/, [ˈsɛkst̪äns]

Noun

sextāns m (genitive sextantis); third declension

1. a sixth part of an as, (in particular —)
   1. (a coin)
   2. (a weight)
   3. the sixth part of a juger (a measure of land)
   4. the sixth part of a sextarius (a measure of liquid)
   5. (a measure of length)
2. (mathematics) the sixth part of the number six (as of the numerus perfectus, in other words) unity, one
3. (Later Latin) a sextant (nautical instrument)

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sextāns	sextantēs
Genitive	sextantis	sextantium
Dative	sextantī	sextantibus
Accusative	sextantem	sextantēs sextantīs
Ablative	sextante	sextantibus
Vocative	sextāns	sextantēs

Related terms

• sextānī
• sextārius
• dēxtāns (“five-sixths”)

Descendants

• Russian: секстан (sekstan), секстант (sekstant)

See also

• octāns
• quadrāns

References

• “sextans”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sextans”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sextans in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “sextans”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “sextans”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin