decuman

Jul. 28th, 2009 07:29 am
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decuman1 - adj., large, immense.

decuman2 - adj., of or pertaining to the tenth cohort of a Roman legion. n., the main gate of a Roman military camp, near which the tenth cohort was typically stationed.


Both senses come from Latin decumānus or decimānus, of the tenth, genative of decimus, tenth. The second sense needs no explanation; the first comes from the belief that every tenth ocean wave is larger than the other nine. Pronounced DEK-yoo-muhn.

---L.

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