LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · neutersecond declension

saeculum

saeculum n (genitive saeculī)
Classical[ˈsae̯.kʊ.ɫũː]Ecclesiastical[ˈsɛː.ku.lum]
№ 776 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. neuterrace, breed
  2. neutergeneration, lifetime
  3. neuterthe amount of time between an occurrence and the death of the final person who was alive at, or witness to, that occurrence
  4. neuterage, time, the times, an era
    rīsit et ‘ō quam tē fallunt tua saecula,’ dīxitHe smiled, and said: ‘‘Oh, how wrong you are about your era, if you think honey is sweeter than taking up money!’’8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 1.191–192
  5. neutercentury
  6. neuterworldliness; the world

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

centum annī; longa aetās hominum.
saeculum -ī n — in Mille Verba, Tempus et Numerī

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativesaeculumsaecula
saecla, sēcla, sēcula
genitivesaeculī
saeclī, sēclī, sēculī		saeculōrum
saeclōrum, sēclōrum, sēculōrum
dativesaeculō
saeclō, sēclō, sēculō		saeculīs
saeclīs, sēclīs, sēculīs
accusativesaeculumsaecula
saecla, sēcla, sēcula
ablativesaeculō
saeclō, sēclō, sēculō		saeculīs
saeclīs, sēclīs, sēculīs
vocativesaeculumsaecula
saecla, sēcla, sēcula

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

saeculi consuetudo or ratio atque inclinatio temporis (temporum)
the spirit of the times, the fashion.
omnis memoria, omnis memoria aetatum, temporum, civitatum or omnium rerum, gentium, temporum, saeculorum memoria
universal history.

saecŭlum (poet., esp. Lucretian, sae-clum; less correctly sēcŭlum, sē-clum), i, n. dim. etym. dub.; perh. root si- = sa-; Gr. σάω, to sift; Lat. sero, satus; whence Saturnus, etc.; hence, orig.,
I. a race, breed, generation (freq. in Lucr.; very rare in later writers; usu. in plur.): saecla propagare, Lucr. 1, 21; cf. id. 2, 173; 5, 850: nec toties possent generatim saecla referre Naturam parentum, id. 1, 597: saecla animantum, i. e. animals, id. 2, 78; 5, 855: hominum, id. 1, 467; 5, 339; 6, 722: ferarum, id. 2, 995; 3, 753; 4, 413; 4, 686; cf.: silvestria ferarum, id. 5, 967: serpentia ferarum, id. 6, 766: mortalia, id. 5, 805; 5, 982; 5, 1238: bucera (with lanigerae pecudes), id. 5, 866; 6, 1245; cf.: vetusta cornicum (with corvorum greges), id. 5, 1084: aurea pavonum, id. 2, 503: totisque expectent saecula ripis, i. e. the shades of the infernal regions, Stat. Th. 11, 592.—Sing.: et muliebre oritur patrio de semine saeclum, the female sex, women, Lucr. 4, 1223; so, muliebre, id. 5, 1020; 2, 10 sq.—
II. Transf.
A. Like γενεά.
1. The ordinary lifetime of the human species, a lifetime, generation, age (of thirty-three years; class.; esp. freq. in signif. 2. infra; cf. Schoem. ad Cic. N. D. 1, 9, 21): cum ad idem, unde semel profecta sunt, cuncta astra redierint ... tum ille vere vertens annus appellari potest: in quo vix dicere audeo, quam multa saecula hominum teneantur, Cic. Rep. 6, 22, 24 Mos.: cum ex hac parte saecula plura numerentur, Liv. 9, 18: quorum (Socratis atque Epicuri) aetates non annis sed saeculis scimus esse disjunctas, Hier. Vit. Cler. 4, p. 262; cf. Censor. de Die Nat. 17; Auct. ap. Serv. Verg. A. 8, 508; id. E. 4, 5.—
(b). Esp., the lifetime or reign of a ruler: illustrari saeculum suum ejusmodi exemplo arbitrabatur, Plin. Ep. 4, 11, 6: digna saeculo tuo, id. ib. 10, 1, 2.—
2. The human race living in a particular age, a generation, an age, the times: serit arbores quae alteri saeculo prosient, Caecil. ap. Cic. Sen. 7, 24: in id saeculum Romuli cecidit aetas, cum jam plena Graecia poëtarum esset, Cic. Rep. 2, 10, 18 (for which: quorum aetas cum in eorum tempora incidisset, id. Or. 12, 39): saeculorum reliquorum judicium, id. Div. 1, 19, 36: ipse fortasse in hujus saeculi errore versor, id. Par. 6, 3, 50; cf.: hujus saeculi insolentia, id. Phil. 9, 6, 23; and: o nostri infamia saecli, Ov. M. 8, 97; cf. also: novi ego hoc saeculum, moribus quibus siet, Plaut. Trin. 2, 2, 6; so, hujus saecli mores, id. Truc. prol. 13; and: hoccine saeclum! o scelera! o genera sacrilega, o hominem impurum! Ter. Ad. 3, 2, 6; cf. id. Eun. 2, 2, 15: nec mutam repertam esse dicunt mulierem ullo in saeculo, Plaut. Aul. 2, 1, 7: Cato rudi saeculo litteras Graecas didicit, Quint. 12, 11, 23; so, rude, id. 2, 5, 23: grave ne rediret Saeculum Pyrrhae, Hor. C. 1, 2, 6: primo statim beatissimi saeculi ortu, Tac. Agr. 3; so, beatissimum, id. ib. 44: felix et aureum, id. Or. 12; Quint. 8, 6, 24: aureum, Sen. Contr. 2, 17; Lact. 5, 6, 13; cf.: aurea saecula, Verg. A. 6, 792; Ov. A. A. 2, 277: his jungendi sunt Diocletianus aurei parens saeculi, et Maximianus, ut vulgo dicitur, ferrei, Lampr. Elag. 35: ceteri, qui dii ex hominibus facti esse dicuntur, minus eruditis hominum saeculis fuerunt (with Romuli aetas), Cic. Rep. 2, 10, 18; cf.: res publica constituta non unā hominum vitā sed aliquot saeculis et aetatibus, id. ib. 2, 1, 2: perpetuā saeculorum admiratione celebrantur, Quint. 11, 1, 13: fecunda culpae saecula, Hor. C. 3, 6, 17: ferro duravit saecula, id. Epod. 16, 65; cf.: sic ad ferrum venistis ab auro, Saecula, Ov. M. 15, 261.—
3. The spirit of the age or times: nemo illic vitia ridet; nec corrumpere et corrumpi saeculum vocatur, Tac. G. 19.—
B. The utmost lifetime of man, a period of a hundred years, a century: saeclum spatium annorum centum vocārunt, Varr. L. L. 6, 2, § 11 Müll.; cf. Fest. s. v. saeculares, p. 328 ib.; Censor. de Die Nat. 17: cum (Numa) illam sapientiam constituendae civitatis duobus prope saeculis ante cognovit, quam eam Graeci natam esse senserunt, Cic. de Or. 2, 37, 154: saeculo festas referente luces, Hor. C. 4, 6, 42; cf.: multa virum durando saecula vincit, Verg. G. 2, 295.—
2. For an indefinitely long period, an age; plur. (so mostly): (Saturni stella) nihil immutat sempiternis saeculorum aetatibus, quin eadem iisdem temporibus efficiat, Cic. N. D. 2, 20, 52: aliquot saeculis post, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 35, § 73: cum aliquot saecula in Italiā viguisset, id. Univ. 1; so, tot, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 55, § 122; id. Ac. 2, 5, 15: quot, Quint. 12, 11, 22: multa, Cic. Rep. 2, 10, 20; 6, 26, 29; id. de Or. 2, 5, 21; id. Cat. 2, 5, 11; id. Fam. 11, 14, 3: plurima, id. Rep. 3, 9, 14: sexcenta, id. Fat. 12, 27: omnia, id. Lael. 4, 15; id. Phil. 2, 22, 54: ex omni saeculorum memoriā, id. ib. 4, 1, 3: vir saeculorum memoriā dignus, Quint. 10, 1, 104; cf.: ingeniorum monumenta, quae saeculis probarentur, id. 3, 7, 18: facto in saecula ituro, to future ages, to posterity, Sil. 12, 312; so Plin. Pan. 55, 1: in famam et saecula mitti, Luc. 10, 533: tarda gelu saeclisque effeta senectus, with (many) years, Verg. A. 8, 508.—Sing.: propemodum saeculi res in unum diem cumulavit, Curt. 4, 16, 10: longo putidam (anum) saeculo, Hor. Epod. 8, 1: ut videri possit saeculo prior, Quint. 10, 1, 113.—Esp. (eccl. Lat.), the following phrases are used to express forever, to all eternity, endlessly, without end: in saeculum, Vulg. Exod. 21, 6; id. Dan. 3, 89: in saeculum saeculi, id. Psa. 36, 27; id. 2 Cor. 9, 9: in saecula, id. Ps. 77, 69; id. Rom. 1, 25: in saecula saeculorum, Tert. ad Uxor. 1, 1; Ambros. Hexaëm. 3, 17, 72; Vulg. Tob. 9, 11; id. Rom. 16, 27; id. Apoc. 1, 6 et saep.—
C. Like the biblical , αἰών, the world, worldliness (eccl. Lat.): immaculatus ab hoc saeculo, Vulg. Jacob. 1, 27: et servientem corpori Absolve vinclis saeculi, Prud. στεφ. 2, 583; so id. Cath. 5, 109; Paul. Nol. Ep. 23, 33 fin.—
D. Heathenism (eccl. Lat.): saeculi exempla, Tert. Exhort. ad Cast. 13 (al. saecularia).

Origins

  1. Proto-Indo-European*seh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sh₂ey-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*sh₂éytlom
  4. Proto-Italic *saitlom ~*saiklom
  5. Latinsaeculum

From Proto-Italic *saiklom < *saitlom, probably from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂éytlom (“lifetime, lifespan”), from *sh₂ey- (“to bind, knit, tie together, tie to, connect”) + *-tlom (instrumental suffix) (whence Latin -culum), in the sense of successive generations being linked together over time. Compare Lithuanian sėkla (“seed”), Proto-Celtic *saitlom (“life, age”), Gaulish Sētlocenia, Hittite [script needed] (išhi-, “to bind”), Sanskrit सि (si, “to bind”). An alternative theory derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sow”).

Descendants
  • Englishsaeculum
  • Englishsecle
  • Italiansecolo
  • Frenchsièclefrom Old French ciecle, secle, sekle, sicle, siecle; seule (early)
  • Frenchsieclefrom Old French ciecle, secle, sekle, sicle, siecle; seule (early)
  • Catalanseglefrom Old Occitan segle
  • Occitansèglefrom Old Occitan segle
  • Occitansèclefrom Old Occitan segle
  • Occitansièclefrom Old Occitan segle
  • Spanishsiglofrom Old Spanish siclo, sieglo, siglo

Quick answers

What does saeculum mean in Latin?
saeculum, a noun, means “race, breed; generation, lifetime; the amount of time between an occurrence and the death of the final person who was alive at, or witness to, that occurrence”.
What is the genitive of saeculum?
The genitive singular is saeculī. saeculum is neuter, second declension.
How do you pronounce saeculum?
In classical Latin, [ˈsae̯.kʊ.ɫũː]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈsɛː.ku.lum].
Where does saeculum come from?
Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- → Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ey- → Proto-Indo-European *sh₂éytlom → Proto-Italic *saitlom ~ *saiklom → Latin saeculum.