noun · masculinethird declension
agger
agger m (genitive aggeris)
Classical[ˈaɡ.ɡɛr]Ecclesiastical[ˈad.d͡ʒer]
Meaning
- masculineearthwork, particularly defensive ramparts or bulwarks, dykes, dams, causeways, and piers
- masculinerubble or earth used or intended for such earthwork
- figurativelymasculineany rampart or defensive wall
Eruptionibus [...] aggeri ignem inferebant
By sorties they set fire to the rampartsc. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de bello Gallico VII.22
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
cumulus, mōlēsagger -eris (m) — in IVLIANVS I: Gallia, ch. 15
via mūnīta, mōlēs viaeagger -eris (m) — in IVLIANVS II: Imperium, ch. 3, 5
mōlēs exstrūctaagger aggeris (m) — in Metamorphoses I, ch. 18
Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Agger · Vallum
Agger (from ἐσαγείρω) is a single line, like a dam; vallum or mound (ἀλκή) is a line which helps to enclose a space. Agger may serve in a warfare as the outwork of a redoubt [which is protected by a single line in front]; vallum [rampart] always belongs to a fortress, camp, or entrenched place.
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | agger | aggerēs |
| genitive | aggeris | aggerum |
| dative | aggerī | aggeribus |
| accusative | aggerem | aggerēs |
| ablative | aggere | aggeribus |
| vocative | agger | aggerēs |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- castra munire vallo (aggere)
- to fortify the camp with a rampart.
agger, ĕris, m. ad-gero.
I. Things brought to a place in order to form an elevation above a surface or plain, as rubbish, stone, earth, sand, brushwood, materials for a rampart, etc. (in the histt., esp. Cæs., freq.; sometimes in the poets): ab opere revocandi milites, qui paulo longius aggeris petendi causā processerant, Caes. B. G. 2, 20:
aggere paludem explere, id. ib. 7, 58; cf. id. ib. 7, 86: longius erat agger petendus, id. B. C. 1, 42; 2, 15 al.: superjecto aggere terreno, Suet. Calig. 19; cf. id. ib. 37: implere cavernas aggere, Curt. 8, 10, 27: fossas aggere complent, Verg. A. 9, 567: avis e medio aggere exit, from the midst of the pile of wood, Ov. M. 12, 524.— But far oftener, II. Esp.
A. The pile formed by masses of rubbish, stone, earth, brushwood, etc., collected together; acc. to its destination, a dam, dike, mole, pier; a hillock, mound, wall, bulwark, rampart, etc.; esp. freq. in the histt. of artificial elevations for military purposes: tertium militare sepimentum est fossa et terreus agger, a clay or mud wall, Varr. R. R. 1, 14, 2: aggeribus niveis (with snow-drifts) informis Terra, Verg. G. 3, 354:
atque ipsis proelia miscent Aggeribus murorum, pleon. for muris, id. A. 10, 24; cf. id. ib. 10, 144: ut cocto tolleret aggere opus, of the walls of Babylon, Prop. 4, 10, 22.—A dike of earth for the protection of a harbor (Ital. molo), Vitr. 5, 12, 122; Ov. M. 14, 445; 15, 690.—A causeway through a swamp: aggeres umido paludum et fallacibus campis imponere, Tac. A. 1, 61.—A heap or pile of arms: agger armorum, Tac. H. 2, 70.—Poet., for mountains: aggeres Alpini, Verg. A. 6, 830; so, Thessalici aggeres, i. e. Pelion, Ossa, Olympus, Sen. Herc. Oet. 168.—A funeral pile of wood, Ov. M. 9, 234, and Sen. Herc. Fur. 1216.—A heap of ashes: ab alto aggere, Luc. 5, 524 Weber.— A high wave of the sea: ab alto Aggere dejecit pelagi, Luc. 5, 674: consurgit ingens pontus in vastum aggerem, Sen. Hippol. 1015 (cf.: mons aquae, Verg. A. 1, 105).— B. In milit. lang.
1. A mound erected before the walls of a besieged city, for the purpose of sustaining the battering engines, and which was gradually advanced to the town; cf. Smith's Dict. Antiq., and Herz. ad Caes. B. G. 2, 12:
aggere, vineis, turribus oppidum oppugnare, Cic. Fam. 15, 4; id. Att. 5, 20: esset agger oppugnandae Italiae Graecia, id. Phil. 10, 9: celeriter vineis ad oppidum actis, aggere jacto turribusque constitutis, etc., Caes. B. G. 2, 12: jacere, to throw up, Sall. J. 37, 4; so Vulg. Isa. 29, 3: aggerem exstruere, Caes. B. G. 2, 30: instruere, id. ib. 8, 41: promovere ad urbem, to bring near to the city, Liv. 5, 7.— Hence, poet.: stellatis axibus agger Erigitur, geminasque aequantis moenia turres Accipit, a mound is built provided with wheels (for moving it forwards), Luc. 3, 455; imitated by Sil. 13, 109.—Since such aggeres consisted principally of wood, they could be easily set on fire, Caes. B. C. 2, 14: horae momento simul aggerem ac vineas incendium hausit, Liv 5, 7.—Trop.: Graecia esset vel receptaculum pulso Antonio, vel agger oppugnandae Italiae, rampart, mound, Cic. Phil. 10, 4: Agger Tarquini, the mound raised by Tarquinius Superbus for the defence of the eastern part of the city of Rome, in the neighborhood of the present Porta S. Lorenzo, Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 67; cf. id. 36, 15, 24, n. 2, * Hor. S. 1, 8, 15; Juv. 5, 153; so id. 8, 43; Quint. 12, 10, 74.—Suet. uses agger for the Tarpeian rock: quoad praecipitaretur ex aggere, Calig. 27.—2. The mound raised for the protection of a camp before the trench (fossa), and from earth dug from it, which was secured by a stockade (vallum), consisting of sharpened stakes (valli); cf.
Hab. Syn. 68, and Smith's Dict. Antiq.: in litore sedes, Castrorum in morem pinnis atque aggere cingit, Verg. A. 7, 159; Plin. 15, 14, 14, § 47.—3. The tribunal, in a camp, formed of turf, from which the general addressed his soldiers:
stetit aggere saltus Cespitis, intrepidus vultum meruitque timeri, Luc. 5, 317: vix eā turre senex, cum ductor ab aggere coepit, Stat. Th. 7, 374; cf. Tac. A. 1, 18 Lips.—4. A military or public road, commonly graded by embankments of earth (in the class. per. only in Verg. and Tac., and always in connection with viae, agger alone belonging only to later Lat.):
viae deprensus in aggere serpens, Verg. A. 5, 273: Aurelius agger, i. e. via Aurelia, Rutil. Itiner. 39: aggerem viae tres praetoriae cohortes obtinuere, Tac. H. 2, 24 and 42; 3, 21 and 23.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
agger eris, m
ad + GES-, a mass, heap, collection, pile: aggere paludem explere, Cs.: longius erat agger petendus, Cs.: fossas aggere conplent, V.—A heap of rubbish, pile of stones, bank, mound, dam, pier, hillock, wall, dike, mole, rampart: aggeribus niveis informis terra, with snow-drifts, V.: proelia miscent Aggeribus murorum, V.: molirique aggere tecta, a stockade, V.: aggeribus ruptis amnis exit, dams, V.: muniti aggere portūs, a breakwater, O.: viae agger, a causeway, V.—Poet.: aggeres Alpini, i. e. mountains, V.—A funeral pile, O. — A platform (for a speaker), O. — In war, a mound erected before a besieged city to sustain battering engines: vineis ad oppidum actis, aggere iacto, Cs.: aggerem iacere, S.: promovere ad urbem, to bring near to the city, L.; usu. of wood; hence, ut agger, tormenta flammam conciperent, Cs.: aggerem ac vineas incendium hausit, L. — Fig.: esset agger oppugnandae Italiae, a rampart for attacking. — Freq. of mounds or terraces in Rome, built for defence, and afterwards used as promenades, a boulevard, terrace: maximus (Tarquinii): (Servius) aggere circumdat urbem, L.: Aggere in aprico spatiari, H.—A mound to protect a camp: seges aggere cingit, V.
Origins
If not directly from aggerō (“carry towards”), from its root.
Descendants
- Frenchari
- Italianargine
- Italianaggere
- Spanisharce
- Spanisharcén
- Piedmonteseàrgin
- Venetanàrzare
- Venetanàrxen