gnomon

Latin noun
loaned from Greek

Last edited: 2025-05-18
Primary meaning gnomon
Literal translation gnomon
Variants
gnomon
Edited by
gnomon astronomical instrument, artefact of astral science

pin of a sundial

Integer itaque horoscopi gnomon ponendus est, ut vera pars sollerti conputatione collecta apotelesma fideli faciat pronuntiatione proferri.

‘Therefore the gnomon of the hour-marker is to be placed untouched so that the influence can be deduced by rational computation and pronounced faithfully’

— Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 8.18.1

Genre: astrological compendium
Provenance: Sicily
Date: ca. 334 CE

Firmicus Maternus. 1897. Ivlii Firmici Materni Matheseos Libri VIII, ed. W. Kroll, F. Skutsch. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner. 2.315

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). gnomon (Lemma #1725). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1725/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). gnomon (Lemma #1725). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1725/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). gnomon (Lemma #1725). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1725/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2025) gnomon (Lemma #1725), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1725/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1725,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2025},
	title = {gnomon ({Lemma} #1725)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1725/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1725/},
}