stella erratica

Latin · noun
variant erratica stella
Edited by: Kierán Meinhardt
Last edited: 2025-05-11
Meanings
Literal translation
wandering star
Categories
celestial object
Related Lemmata 11 ›

1. planet

1.a planet celestial object

“Si erratica,” inquit, “stella esset, in signifero esset.” Quis unum stellis limitem ponit?

‘“If a comet were a planet,” someone said, “it would be in the zodiac.” Who places one boundary for planets?’

— Seneca, Natural Questions 7.24.1

Genre: philosophy Date: 62/63 CE

Seneca. Natural Questions, Volume II: Books 4-7. Translated by Thomas H. Corcoran. Loeb Classical Library 457. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972. 274-275

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). stella erratica (Lemma #1864). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1864/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). stella erratica (Lemma #1864). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1864/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). stella erratica (Lemma #1864). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1864/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2025) stella erratica (Lemma #1864), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1864/ (Accessed: July 4, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1864,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2025},
	title = {stella erratica ({Lemma} #1864)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1864/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1864/},
}