noun · masculinethird declension
cardō1
cardō m (genitive cardinis)
Classical[ˈkar.doː]Ecclesiastical[ˈkar.do]
Mille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- hinge (of a door or gate), usually a pivot and socket in Roman times.
- broadlya tenon, mortice, or socket
- A street, that ran north–south, in a Roman town or military camp
- figurativelyturning point, critical moment or action
- figurativelythe symbolism of the hinge in ancient Roman religion and myth
Prīma diēs tibi, Carnā, datur. dea cardinis haec est: nūmine clausa aperit, claudit aperta suō. The first day [of June] is being given to you, Carna. This is the goddess of the hinge: by her divine power she opens the closed, [and] closes the opened. (Ovid conflates the June festival of the goddess Carna with the mythology of Cardea; see also Janus and Hinge.)
8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 6.101–102 - a pole
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
in quō iānua sē vertit.cardō -inis m — in Mille Verba, Domus et Familia
pars portae quā vertiturcardō -inis (m) — in Metamorphoses I, ch. 9, 23
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | cardō | cardinēs |
| genitive | cardinis | cardinum |
| dative | cardinī | cardinibus |
| accusative | cardinem | cardinēs |
| ablative | cardine | cardinibus |
| vocative | cardō | cardinēs |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- vertex caeli, axis caeli, cardo caeli
- the pole.
cardo, ĭnis, m. cf. κράδη, a swing; κραδαίνω, to swing, wave; Sanscr. kurd, a spring, a leap; old Germ. hrad, lively, and Germ. reit in bereit, ready (f., Gracch. ap. Prisc. p. 683 P.; Graius ap. Non. p. 202, 20; cf. infra in Vitr.),
I. the pivot and socket, upon which a door was made to swing at the lintel and the threshold, the hinge of a door or gate, Enn. Trag. 119 Vahl.:
paene ecfregisti foribus cardines, Plaut. Am. 4, 2, 6; id. As. 2, 3, 8: postis a cardine vellit Aeratos, Verg. A. 2, 480: cardo stridebat, id. ib. 1, 449; cf. id. Cir. 222: num muttit cardo? Plaut. Curc. 1, 1, 94: immoti, Plin. 16, 43, 84, § 230: singuli, id. 36, 15, 24, § 117: facili patuerunt cardine valvae, Juv. 4, 63: versato cardine Thisbe Egreditur, opening the door, Ov. M. 4, 93; cf. Verg. A. 3, 448: nec strepitum verso Saturnia cardine fecit, Ov. M. 14, 782 al.—B. Meton.
1. Cardines, in mechanics, beams that were fitted together; and specifically, cardo masculus, a tenon, Vitr. 9, 6, and cardo femina, a socket, a mortise, id. 9, 6:
cardo securiclatus, axeshaped tenon, a dovetail, id. 10, 15, 3.— Hence, b. In garlands, the place where the two ends meet, Plin. 21, 4, 10, § 18.—
2. In astron., the point about which something turns, a pole. So of the North pole:
caeli, Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 4: mundi, Plin. 4, 12, 26, § 89; cf.: extremusque adeo duplici de cardine vertex Dicitur esse polus, Cic. poët. N. D. 2, 41, 105; Ov. P. 2, 10, 45; Stat. Th. 1, 349: cardo glacialis ursae, Sen. Herc. Fur. 1139: Arctoae cardo portae, Stat. Th. 7, 35; hence anal. to this, with the agrimensores, the line limiting the field, drawn through from north to south, Plin. 18, 33, 76, § 326; 17, 22, 35, § 169; cf. Fest. s. v. decimanus, p. 71 Müll., and accordingly the mountain Taurus is called cardo, i. e. line or limit, Liv. 37, 54, 23; cf. id. 40, 18, 8; 41, 1, 3.—Of the four cardinal points of the world, Quint. 12, 10, 67; so, Hesperius Eous, Luc. 5, 71; Stat. Th. 1, 157: occiduus, Luc. 4, 672: medius, id. 4, 673.— Of the earth as the centre of the universe, acc. to the belief of the ancients, Plin. 2, 64, 64, § 160; 2, 9, 6, § 44.—Of the intersection of inclined surfaces: reperiuntur (aquae) ... quodam convexitatis cardine aut montium radicibus, Plin. 31, 3, 26, § 43.—Of the summer solstice: anni, Plin. 18, 28, 68, § 264; and so of the epochs of the different seasons: temporum, id. 18, 25, 58, § 218; 18, 25, 59, § 220.—Hence, of the time of life: extremus, old age, Luc. 7, 381.—II. Trop., that on which every thing else turns or depends, the chief point or circumstance (so not before the Aug. per.):
haud tanto cessabit cardine rerum, at such a turn of affairs, so great a crisis, in so critical a moment, decisive, Verg. A. 1, 672 (hoc est in articulo, Serv.; cf. Isid. Orig. 15, 7, 6; Gr. ἀκμἧ): fatorum in cardine summo, Stat. Th. 10, 853: litium. Quint. 12, 8, 2: causae, id. 5, 12, 3: satellitem in quo totius dominationis summa quasi quodam cardine continetur, Val. Max. 3, 3, ext. 5: unum eligamus in quo est summum ac principale, in quo totius sapientiae cardo versatur, Lact. 3, 7, 6.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
cardō inis, m
CARD-, a hinge, pivot and socket (of door or gate): postīs a cardine vellit, V.: (ianua) movebat Cardines, H.: facili patuerunt cardine valvae, Iu.: versato cardine Egreditur, opening the door, O. — In astron., a pole: Extremusque adeo duplici de cardine vertex Dicitur esse polus, C., O.—A boundary, limit: intra eum cardinem (imperii), i. e. Mount Taurus, L.—Fig., a turning-point, crisis (poet.): tantus rerum, V.
Origins
Uncertain. Traditionally related to Ancient Greek κράδη (krádē, “twig, spray; swing, crane in the drama”), but unlikely as the concordant sense of swing is metaphorical and likely too recent. Or from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerd- (“to move, sway, swing, jump”) and so cognate with Proto-Germanic *herzô (“bar, pivot, hinge”) (whence English har (“hinge”)). Compare in any case Old High German scerdo (“hinge”).
Elsewhere
- Frenchcharnièrefrom Old French *charnière
- Frenchcarnefrom Anglo-Norman carne
- Italiancardine
- Italiancardo
- Spanishcárdine
Old Welsh
- Welshcorddynfrom Middle Welsh corðyn