British Dictionary definitions for peculium

peculium

noun

Roman law property that a father or master allowed his child or slave to hold as his own

Word Origin

C17: from Latin; see peculiar

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for peculium

Historical Examples

Each had a share of copra, her peculium, to dispose of for herself.
In the South Seas
Robert Louis Stevenson
For other references to the peculium for clothing, see Visit.
Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535
Eileen Edna Power
My peculium I don't recollect, but it could not have exceeded 100.
Thomas Carlyle
Hector Carsewell Macpherson
If they were not slaves they could not have peculium in the technical sense.
The Letters of Cassiodorus
Cassiodorus (AKA Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator)
A son could acquire no property but with his father's consent, and what he thus acquired was called his peculium as of a slave.
Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology
Charles K. Dillaway

peculium

Word Origin

Examples from the Web for peculium

Historical Examples

Each had a share of copra, her peculium, to dispose of for herself.

For other references to the peculium for clothing, see Visit.

My peculium I don't recollect, but it could not have exceeded 100.

If they were not slaves they could not have peculium in the technical sense.

A son could acquire no property but with his father's consent, and what he thus acquired was called his peculium as of a slave.