„Kastrumas“, „dekumanas“, „kardas“?

SVARSTYMAI, SIŪLYMAI CASTRUM, DECUMANUS, CARDO? Latin castrum, decumanus, cardo (genitive cardinis) are terms of Roman urban planning. Can they, and should they, be rendered in this way in Lithuanian? Latin castrum primarily means—its frequent diminutive being castellum—“fortification, fortified place, (small) fortress, fort [not a Roman word, but a French one, derived only from Latin fortis ‘strong, sturdy’], castle” [from the Latin adjective castellanus—through Polish kasztelan—comes kaštelionas, the governor of a medieval castle and its surrounding district, and, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a high county official (alongside the marshal and voivode), a leader of the nobility (already in Konstantinas Sirvydas’s 1642 dictionary, kasztelan – legatus palatini, castellanus – kasztelonas; pronounced kaštelionas), while the head of the castle itself (later merely its steward) was the pilininkas, a standard-language neologism replacing the Slavic horodničius (in Lithuania Minor, the living Lithuanian word pilionis (-ies and -io) was used, though it also had other meanings: “citizen” in J. Bretkūnas’s postil, “townsman; courtier” in K. Donelaitis, and “inhabitant or defender of a castle and its suburb, i.e. a castle-dweller” in various writings, including those of S. Daukantas). The older meaning—plural castra—is “military camp”: a summer campaign camp, castra aestiva; a winter camp, castra hiberna; and a permanent camp, castra stativa (later meanings of castra include “barracks,” “dwelling,” and even “military service”). Where there is a camp or castle, a settlement or town soon arises (cf. also Lithuanian Pilis, Pilaitė, Pilėnai, Piliūnai, Pilioniai, Pilionys, Piliuona; Senapilė, Naujapilis; Papilė, Papilys, Papiliai, Papilėnai; Piliakalnis, Piliakalniai, Pilkalnis, Piliakiemiai, Pilialaukis, Pilkapiai, Pilsūdai...). Characteristic colonial names of Roman fortress towns are scattered throughout the Roman Empire; many have survived for centuries, albeit in altered forms: Castrum Novum, Castrum Albium, Castrum Vergium (they are not adapted into Lithuanian—there is no such thing as Kastrumas); Castra Hannibalis, Castra Posthumiana, Castra Cornelia (Corneliana), Castra Julia, Castra Caecilia; Castel Gandolfas (Kastelgandolfas)—the Pope’s holiday residence; Kastili- 88 a, Alcázar (an Arabized form); Kastelis; Lankasteris, Mančesteris, Vinčesteris, Česterfildas,... Urban-planning researchers later called this Latin castrum castrum Romanum – “a Roman army camp that became the starting point for many present-day western European cities. <...>. The camps were surrounded by a wall with four [=four⟧] gates. <...>” LE III. In Lithuanian it is translated in two ways – Roman camp and Roman city, although for the Romans Latin castrum did not mean “city” – that was urbs (even Urbs – of Rome – princeps urbium, aeterna Roma, septemgemina Roma – Rome of the seven hills); moreover, the older meaning of urbs was also “the upper part of a city, the city’s fortress” (and civitas meant not only “citizenship,” nor only “citizens, community; state,” but also “city,” especially “the city of Rome”). No one Lithuanized kastrumas, all the more since it is not just castrum, but castrum Romanum. In the “Dictionary of Antiquity,” castra (Latin) is referred to its Lithuanian equivalent – ↗ camp (military). “The Romans built camps with a regular street plan because, in the event of an enemy attack, they offered better visibility and communication. The camp streets ran parallel and intersected at right angles. Such permanent camps (castra stativa) often gradually turned into cities. Stone walls replaced ramparts, houses replaced leather tents, while the streets remained the same, laid out, undoubtedly, also on the basis of Hippodamian principles” AŽ 327. What are these Hippodamian principles? “According to Aristotle (Politica, 2. 5. 1), who is not necessarily entirely accurate, Hippodamus ‘devised’ the division of cities into blocks” RMA 26. There is a certain contradiction here – cities arise from fortifications and camps, yet a… city plan is applied to them. But let us leave this contradiction aside and begin with the camp. “The Castrum Romanum had a rectangular plan with two main streets—Cardo and Decumanus—at whose intersection stood the so-called Praetorium square” LE III. As we investigate further, the contradictions among specialists, unfortunately, are again striking: “the broad decumanus, running from north to south, and three broad cardines—running from east to west—frame the long, narrow blocks of residential buildings, or insulae, <...>” RMA 30; but further on: “Decumanus usually runs from east to west, while cardo runs from north to south” RMA 35; “Only to the north of the main 89 east–west streets, decumanus maximus, larger blocks measuring 70×110 m were formed, <...>” RMA 44 (emphasis throughout mine – J. K.). Decumanus confirms this direction, though in the opposite sense, and so does the authority on Latin lexicography, J. Dvoreckis: decumanus < decimanus (limes) (Pliny the Elder, Columella – both 1st c.) – 5, “a boundary from west to east,” whereas cardo – 3, “a dividing line from north to south” (as distinct from limes decumanus – “a line drawn from east to west”; and oriented in that direction) LRS. Fortunately for our purposes, the directions of decumanus and cardo are not crucial. The words and their meanings are what matter. Decumanus and cardo are living Latin words: “Authors who described Roman planning generally used certain special terms of Roman surveyors when speaking of cities: in particular, decumanus and cardo to denote the two ‘axial’ streets” RMA 35. Porta decumana – the rear gate – “by the quarters of the tenth cohort [cohors decima]” AŽ 478. The front gate – the praetorian gate (porta praetoria) – stood beside the praetorium, the headquarters of the commander-in-chief (general), the praetor (praetor < prae-itor – “one who goes ahead”) (and the square around it). The streets running across the camp were the rear cross street (via decumana) and, farther on, the inner cross street (via quintana) – between the fifth maniple (one third of a cohort – two centuries, i.e. units of one hundred) and the fifth turma (a troop of 30–32 cavalrymen), and the sixth maniple and sixth turma; nearer the praetorium was the command street (via principalis), which led to the command gates (porta principalis) – the right and left gates AŽ 478. In the plan of the Roman military camp in AŽ 478, decumanus lies at the rear of the camp, while cardo is entirely absent, although the article on urban blocks mentions “two main streets (cardo and decumanus)” AŽ 326. It is easy to surmise that cardo ran precisely from porta praetoria to porta decumana [cardo 2nd decl. “axis; pole; cardinal point,” 3rd decl. 2) “boundary, wall, dividing line”; 1st decl. “(door) hinge” LoLieŽ]. The camp-city of veterans of the praetorian guard (elite troops) at Aosta is depicted quite differently in RMA 43 – decumanus runs through the middle of the camp. But that difference is not decisive for us. Since this Roman urban planning had no continuation, these Latin terms are merely historical, and one can use their original forms, especially since 90 that awkward results come from Lithuanizing it (sword!). More important is to have Lithuanian equivalents for them (not substitutes), which could be used both as terms and as explanatory descriptions. For its various meanings and needs, castrum could be rendered as – (military) camp; camp-city, military town; fortress-city. The longitudinal and transverse axis and street (even length and breadth) could correspond to the other two (since decumanus and cardo are confused, only specialists can determine which equivalent fits which). Abbreviations AŽ – Antikos žodynas / vertimo ats. red. D. Staškevičienė. Vilnius, 1998. LE – Lietuvių enciklopedija. Bostonas, 1954, T. 3. LoLieŽ – Kuzavinis K. Lotynų-lietuvių kalbų žodynas. Vilnius, 1996. LRS – Дворецкий И. X. Латинско-русский словарь. Москва, 1986. RMA – Wheeler M. Romos menas ir architektūra / vert. O. Daukšienė, red. V. Gasiliūnas, konsult. D. Dilytė. Vilnius, 1999. Ska numbers denote volumes (in Roman numerals) and pages. Jonas KLIMAVIČIUS Jonas KLIMAVIČIUS Institute of the Lithuanian Language Antakalnio g. 6 LT-2055, Vilnius Received 2000 09 25 91