# oppidum
## English
### Etymology

From Latin oppidum (“(chiefly walled or fortified) town”).

### Noun

oppidum (plural oppida)
* A large, defended Iron Age settlement associated with the Celtic La Tène culture. [from 19th c.]
** 2013, Graham Robb, The Ancient Paths, Picador, published 2014, page 76:‘Mount Ceasar’ was a major oppidum of the Bellovaci tribe and almost certainly the tribal capital: its geographical relationship to the nearby Roman capital of Beauvais is typical of a post-conquest tribal resettlement.

## French
### Noun

oppidum m (plural oppidums)
* oppidum

### Further reading

* “oppidum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* oppid. (abbreviation)
* opidum

### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *oppedom, from Proto-Indo-European *pedo- meaning either "step > ground" or "foot" - compare the morphology of Ancient Greek ἐπίπεδος (epípedos, “plane, superficial”). Cognates include Ancient Greek πέδον (pédon), Sanskrit पद (pada, “on or over the plain”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈop.pi.dum/, [ˈɔpːɪd̪ʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈop.pi.dum/, [ˈɔpːid̪um]

### Noun

oppidum n (genitive oppidī); second declension
* town (esp. of towns other than Rome, which was generally called Urbs)
    Manus gladiatorum oppido eruperat.The company of gladiators had made a sally from the town.

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

#### Derived terms

* oppidānus
* oppidātim
* oppidulum
* oppidō

#### Descendants

* Italian: Oppido (toponym), → oppido
* Neapolitan: Oppitu, Òppete (toponyms)
* Portuguese: Óbidos (toponym), → ópido

### References

* “oppidum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “oppidum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "oppidum", 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)
* oppidum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. the town lies near the sea: oppidum mari adiacet the town stands on rising ground: oppidum colli impositum est the town lies at the foot of a mountain: oppidum monti subiectum est to build, found a city: oppidum constituere, condere a town with a strong natural position: oppidum natura loci munitum (B. G. 1. 38) a town artificially fortified: oppidum manu (opere) munitum to besiege a city: oppidum obsidere to besiege a city: oppidum obsidione claudere to keep a town in a state of siege: oppidum in obsidione tenere to starve a town into surrender: oppidum fame domare to storm a town: oppidum oppugnare to surround a town with a rampart and fosse: oppidum cingere vallo et fossa to rain missiles on a town, bombard it: oppidum tormentis verberare to raise a siege (used of the army of relief): oppidum obsidione liberare to break into the town: in oppidum irrumpere to break into the town: in oppidum irruptionem facere to take, storm a town: oppidum capere, expugnare to retake a town: oppidum recipere to fire a town: oppidum incendere to plunder a town: oppidum diripere to completely destroy a town: oppidum evertere, excīdere to raze a town to the ground: oppidum solo aequare a seaport town: oppidum maritimum (ambiguous) to make a sally, sortie from the town: eruptionem facere ex oppido (ambiguous) to make a sally, sortie from the town: crebras ex oppido excursiones facere (B. G. 2. 30)
* “oppidum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “oppidum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin