defectio

Latin noun

Last edited: 2024-12-03
Primary meaning eclipse
Literal translation failing
Variants
defectio
Edited by

eclipse astronomical event

quae ratio [...] faciat [...] defectionem Solis ac Lunae

‘why it causes the eclipse of sun and moon’

— Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 1.0.5

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. 1.3

Summa enim velocitas transeuntium est, ideoque omnis defectio siderum brevis est quia cito illa idem cursus qui admoverat abstrahit.

‘For, the velocity of stars in transit is very great. Consequently, every eclipse of stars is brief because the same motion that brought them rapidly together separates them rapidly.’

— Seneca, Natural Questions 7.12.4

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. 252-253


Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio (Lemma #850). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/850/

Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio (Lemma #850). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/850/

MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2024). defectio (Lemma #850). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/850/

Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2024) defectio (Lemma #850), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/850/ (Accessed: December 1, 2025).

BibTeX
@misc{zodiac850,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2025-12-01]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2024},
	title = {defectio ({Lemma} #850)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/850/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/850/},
}