cyparissia

Latin · noun

Edited by: Kierán Meinhardt
Last edited: 2025-05-11

Meanings

Literal translation

cypress-tree

1. "cypress-tree" comet

1.a "cypress-tree" comet celestial object

At quibus longior mora est et ignis fortior motumque caeli sequens aut etiam proprios cursus agunt, cometas nostri putant, de quibus dictum est. Horum genera sunt pogoniae et cyparissiae et lampades et alia omnia quorum ignis in exitu sparsus est.

‘But the ones which last a long time, and have a stronger flame, and follow the motion of the sky or even maintain their own course, our Stoics call comets (which have already been discussed). Types of these are: Bearded, Cypress Trees, and Lamps—as well as all the others which have fire scattered behind them as they go out.’

— Seneca, Natural Questions 1.15.4

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. 78-79

Cite this entry

APA (7th)

Meinhardt, K. (2025). cyparissia (Lemma #1798). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1798/

Chicago (Author-Date)

Meinhardt, K. (2025). cyparissia (Lemma #1798). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1798/

MLA (9th)

Meinhardt, K. (2025). cyparissia (Lemma #1798). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1798/

Harvard

Meinhardt, K. (2025) cyparissia (Lemma #1798), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1798/ (Accessed: July 4, 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{zodiac1798,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2025},
	title = {cyparissia ({Lemma} #1798)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1798/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1798/},
}