ἐφάπτομαι

in a mathematical sense

Ἀρκτικὸς μὲν οὖν ἐστι κύκλος ὁ μέγιστος τῶν ἀεὶ θεωρουμένων κύκλων, ὁ ἐφαπτόμενος τοῦ ὁρίζοντος καθ’ ἓν σημεῖον καὶ ὅλος ὑπὲρ γῆν ἀπολαμβανόμενος, ἐν ᾧ τὰ κείμενα τῶν ἄστρων οὔτε δύσιν οὔτε ἀνατολὴν ποιεῖται, ἀλλὰ δι’ ὅλης τῆς νυκτὸς περὶ τὸν πόλον στρεφόμενα θεωρεῖται.

‘The arctic circle is the biggest of the always visible circles, the one touching the horizon in one point and as a whole taken aside above the earth, in which the stars lying in it never perform a setting nor a rising, but are observed during the whole night turning around the pole.’