defectio perfecta

Latin noun

Last edited: 2024-10-27
Primary meaning total eclipse
Literal translation perfect failing
Variants
defectio perfecta
perfecta defectio
Edited by
total eclipse astronomical event

Haec dicitur perfecta defectio, quae stellas quoque ostendit et intercipit lucem, tunc scilicet cum uterque orbis sub eodem libramento stetit.

‘A so-called total eclipse also shuts out the daylight and reveals the stars. It occurs, of course, when the centre of both spheres have come to a balance with the earth’s—all on the same straight line.’

— Seneca, Natural Questions 1.12.1

Genre: philosophy
Date: 62/63 CE

Seneca. Natural Questions, Volume I: Books 1-3. Translated by Thomas H. Corcoran. Loeb Classical Library 450. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. 70-71

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio perfecta (Lemma #1786). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio perfecta (Lemma #1786). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio perfecta (Lemma #1786). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2024) defectio perfecta (Lemma #1786), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/ (Accessed: December 1, 2025).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1786,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2025-12-01]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2024},
	title = {defectio perfecta ({Lemma} #1786)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1786/},
}