castellum

American  

[ka-stel-uhm] / kæˈstɛl əm /

noun

Archaeology.

plural

castelli

1. a small isolated fortress, or one of a series of such fortresses, of the ancient Romans.

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Etymology

Origin of castellum

< Latin: fortified settlement, fortress < *casterlom < *castṛlom < *castrelom, equivalent to castr ( a ) (neuter plural) fortified camp + *-elom diminutive suffix; -ule, -elle

Example Sentences

Head first to 2,000-year-old Dom Square, where the Romans built the castellum Traiectum, a fort that became the city’s foundation.

From Washington Post • Jan. 29, 2020

In the twenty years since—this was a project with many political moments, many waves—a western section has become an archeological museum, housed in a wooden reconstruction of a Roman castellum.

From The New Yorker • May 16, 2016

It was not a camp, sir, a castrum, but a castellum, a little camp, or watch-station, to which was attached, on the peak of the adjacent hill, a beacon for transmitting alarms.

From Crotchet Castle by Peacock, Thomas Love

Under Drusus a castellum was erected here, which was destroyed by the Franks and the Alemanni.

From The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine by Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)

Elteshamum etiam vicinum Grenouico, ac Somaridunum castellum Lindianæ prouinciæ, ædificijs illustria reddidit.

From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 09 Asia, Part II by Hakluyt, Richard