cardo

cardo, ĭnis, m. [cf. kradê, a swing; kradainô, to swing, wave; Sanscr. kurd, a spring, a leap; old Germ. hrad, lively, and Germ. reit in bereit, ready] (f., Gracch. ap. Prisc. p. 683 P.; Graius ap. Non. p. 202, 20; cf. infra in Vitr.), the pivot and socket, upon which a door was made to swing at the lintel and the threshold, the hinge of a door or gate, Enn. Trag. 119 Vahl.:

paene ecfregisti foribus cardines,

Plaut. Am. 4, 2, 6; id. As. 2, 3, 8:

postis a cardine vellit Aeratos,

Verg. A. 2, 480:

cardo stridebat,

id. ib. 1, 449; cf. id. Cir. 222:

num muttit cardo?

Plaut. Curc. 1, 1, 94:

immoti,

Plin. 16, 43, 84, § 230:

singuli,

id. 36, 15, 24, § 117:

facili patuerunt cardine valvae,

Juv. 4, 63:

versato cardine Thisbe Egreditur,

opening the door, Ov. M. 4, 93; cf. Verg. A. 3, 448:

nec strepitum verso Saturnia cardine fecit,

Ov. M. 14, 782 al. —

B.

Meton.

1.

Cardines, in mechanics, beams that were fitted together; and specifically, cardo masculus, a tenon, Vitr. 9, 6, and cardo femina, a socket, a mortise, id. 9, 6:

cardo securiclatus,

axeshaped tenon, a dovetail, id. 10, 15, 3.— Hence,

b.

In garlands, the place where the two ends meet, Plin. 21, 4, 10, § 18.—

2.

In astron., the point about which something turns, a pole. So of the North pole:

caeli,

Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 4:

mundi,

Plin. 4, 12, 26, § 89; cf.: extremusque adeo duplici de cardine vertex Dicitur esse polus, Cic. poët. N. D. 2, 41, 105; Ov. P. 2, 10, 45; Stat. Th. 1, 349:

cardo glacialis ursae,

Sen. Herc. Fur. 1139:

Arctoae cardo portae,

Stat. Th. 7, 35;

hence anal. to this, with the agrimensores,

the line limiting the field, drawn through from north to south, Plin. 18, 33, 76, § 326; 17, 22, 35, § 169; cf. Fest. s. v. decimanus, p. 71 Müll., and accordingly the mountain Taurus is called cardo, i. e. line or limit, Liv. 37, 54, 23; cf. id. 40, 18, 8; 41, 1, 3.—Of the four cardinal points of the world, Quint. 12, 10, 67; so, Hesperius Eous, Luc. 5, 71; Stat. Th. 1, 157:

occiduus,

Luc. 4, 672:

medius,

id. 4, 673.— Of the earth as the centre of the universe, acc. to the belief of the ancients, Plin. 2, 64, 64, § 160; 2, 9, 6, § 44.—Of the intersection of inclined surfaces:

reperiuntur (aquae)... quodam convexitatis cardine aut montium radicibus,

Plin. 31, 3, 26, § 43.—Of the summer solstice:

anni,

Plin. 18, 28, 68, § 264; and so of the epochs of the different seasons:

temporum,

id. 18, 25, 58, § 218; 18, 25, 59, § 220.—Hence, of the time of life:

extremus,

old age, Luc. 7, 381.—

II.

Trop., that on which every thing else turns or depends, the chief point or circumstance (so not before the Aug. per.):

haud tanto cessabit cardine rerum,

at such a turn of affairs, so great a crisis, in so critical a moment, decisive, Verg. A. 1, 672 (hoc est in articulo, Serv.; cf. Isid. Orig. 15, 7, 6; Gr. akmê):

fatorum in cardine summo,

Stat. Th. 10, 853: litium. Quint. 12, 8, 2:

causae,

id. 5, 12, 3:

satellitem in quo totius dominationis summa quasi quodam cardine continetur,

Val. Max. 3, 3, ext. 5:

unum eligamus in quo est summum ac principale, in quo totius sapientiae cardo versatur,

Lact. 3, 7, 6.