exercitus

Latin

Etymology 1

Perfect passive participle of exerceō (“to occupy oneself, oversee; work at, practice, exercise”), from ex- (“out of”) +‎ arceō (“to ward off, protect, guard”), from Proto-Italic *arkeō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂orké-ye-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk- (“to protect, guard”).

Pronunciation

• exercitus: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ekˈser.ki.tus/, [ɛkˈs̠ɛrkɪt̪ʊs̠]
• exercitus: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ekˈser.t͡ʃi.tus/, [eɡˈzɛrt͡ʃit̪us]
• exercitūs: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ekˈser.ki.tuːs/, [ɛkˈs̠ɛrkɪt̪uːs̠]
• exercitūs: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ekˈser.t͡ʃi.tus/, [eɡˈzɛrt͡ʃit̪us]

Participle

exercitus (feminine exercita, neuter exercitum); first/second-declension participle

1. occupied, exercised, practised
2. vexed, harassed
3. vexatious, severe
4. disciplined

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	exercitus	exercita	exercitum		exercitī	exercitae	exercita
genitive	exercitī	exercitae	exercitī		exercitōrum	exercitārum	exercitōrum
dative	exercitō	exercitae	exercitō		exercitīs
accusative	exercitum	exercitam	exercitum		exercitōs	exercitās	exercita
ablative	exercitō	exercitā	exercitō		exercitīs
vocative	exercite	exercita	exercitum		exercitī	exercitae	exercita

Etymology 2

From exerceō (“to occupy oneself, oversee; work at, practice, exercise”) +‎ -tus (action noun forming suffix).

Noun

exercitus m (genitive exercitūs); fourth declension

1. an exercised, disciplined body of men, an army
   • 4th century AD, St. Jerome, Vulgate, Book of Joshua 8.9–10, (Trans. Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner rev. Link to Josue (Joshua) Chapter 8 in parallel Latin Vulgate & English Douay-Rheims):

     Dīmīsitque eōs, et perrēxērunt ad locum īnsidiārum, sēdēruntque inter Bethel et Hāī, ad occidentālem plāgam urbis Hāī: Jōsue autem nocte illā in mediō mānsit populī, surgēnsque dīlūculō recēnsuit sociōs, et ascendit cum seniōribus in fronte exercitūs, vāllātus auxiliō pugnātōrum.

     And he sent them away, and they went on to the place of the ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city of Hai. But Josue stayed that night in the midst of the people, And rising early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and went up with the ancients in the front of the army environed with the aid of the fighting men.

2. the assembly of the people in the Comitia Centuriata, as being a military organization
3. (poetic) a multitude, host, swarm, flock
4. a troop, body of attendants
5. trouble, affliction

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	exercitus	exercitūs
genitive	exercitūs	exercituum
dative	exercituī	exercitibus
accusative	exercitum	exercitūs
ablative	exercitū	exercitibus
vocative	exercitus	exercitūs

Descendants

• Asturian: exércitu
• Catalan: exèrcit
• Friulian: esercit
• → Galician: exército
• Italian: esercito
• Piedmontese: esèrcit
• → Portuguese: exército
• Sardinian: esértzitu
• Sicilian: esèrcitu
• Old Spanish: exército
  • Spanish: ejército
  • Ladino: exército (איגזירסיטו)

References

• “exercitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “exercitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• exercitus 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)
• exercitus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 624.
• exercitus in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 2549
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to provide corn-supplies for the troops: frumentum providere exercitui
    
  • to place some one at the head of an army, give him the command: praeficere aliquem exercitui
    
  • to be at the head of an army: praeesse exercitui
    
  • (ambiguous) to raise an army: exercitum conficere (Imp. Pomp. 21. 61)
    
  • (ambiguous) to levy troops: milites (exercitum) scribere, conscribere
    
  • (ambiguous) to equip an army, troops: parare exercitum, copias
    
  • (ambiguous) to support an army: alere exercitum (Off. 1. 8. 25)
    
  • (ambiguous) to review an army: recensere, lustrare, recognoscere exercitum (Liv. 42. 31)
    
  • (ambiguous) to disband an army: dimittere exercitum
    
  • (ambiguous) a numerous army: ingens, maximus exercitus (not numerosus)
    
  • (ambiguous) soldiers collected in haste; irregulars: milites tumultuarii (opp. exercitus iustus) (Liv. 35. 2)
    
  • (ambiguous) mercenary troops: milites mercennarii or exercitus conducticius
    
  • (ambiguous) to advance with the army: procedere cum exercitu
    
  • (ambiguous) to march down on to..: agmen, exercitum demittere in...
    
  • (ambiguous) to advance on..: exercitum admovere, adducere ad...
    
  • (ambiguous) to lead the army to the fight: exercitum educere or producere in aciem
    
  • (ambiguous) to draw up forces in battle-order: aciem (copias, exercitum) instruere or in acie constituere
    
  • (ambiguous) to annihilate, cut up the enemy, an army: hostes, exercitum delere, concīdere
    
  • (ambiguous) the victorious army: exercitus victor
    
  • (ambiguous) to embark an army: exercitum in naves imponere (Liv. 22. 19)
    
• “exercitus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “exercitus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin