bustum

Latin

Etymology

Backformed from compounds of Latin ūrere, ustum (“to burn”), via metanalysis of amb-ustum as am-bustum, which also led to combūrō. C.f. the etymology of bruciare.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈbus.tum/, [ˈbʊs̠t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbus.tum/, [ˈbust̪um]

Noun

bustum n (genitive bustī); second declension

1. burial mound, grave, tomb
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.551–552:

     bustīs exīsse feruntur et tacitae questī tempore noctis avī

     [but] their [dead] forefathers are said to have come forth from their tombs, and to have uttered their complaints in the hours of the still night
     1851. The Fasti &c of Ovid. Trans. Henry T. Riley. London: H. G. Bohn. pg. 71.

2. a place for burning funeral pyres (with human remains interred at or near the site)

See Roman funerary practices

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	bustum	busta
Genitive	bustī	bustōrum
Dative	bustō	bustīs
Accusative	bustum	busta
Ablative	bustō	bustīs
Vocative	bustum	busta

Descendants

Descendants of bustum

• Catalan: bust
• → English: bust
• Dalmatian: buast
• → Irish: busta
• → Ancient Greek: βοῦστον (boûston)
• Italian: busto
  • → French: buste
• Portuguese: busto
• Spanish: busto

References

• “bustum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “bustum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• bustum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• bustum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “bustum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “bustum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin