"Taurus castratus" translates literally from Latin as a castrated bull, which historically defines an ox.

• Term meaning: Taurus means bull and castratus means castrated.
• Agricultural use: This term appears in medieval manorial records and Latin-English vocabularies (such as the Nomenclatura Clericalis) to distinguish a working ox or bullock from an intact breeding bull.
• Etymological link: Older dialect glossaries and historical lexicons link these bovine terms directly to historical place names and Germanic roots for oxen, such as oxna-forda (the ford of the oxen) for Oxford. 

If you are researching a specific historical text, document, or etymology, let me know and I can provide more details!

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what does nomenclatura say?

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The 1685 legal and classical dictionary Nomenclatura Clericalis specifically defines the English term "Bull-Segg" as the Latin Taurus Castratus.

In Section III ("Of Beasts, Cattel, Serpents, Worms, Flies..."), the vocabulary book breaks down bovine terminology as follows:

• A Bull: Taurus, m.
• An Ox: Bos, m.
• A Bullock: Bubulus, m.
• A Steer, or Stott: Juvencus, m.
• A Bull-Segg: Taurus Castratus

Context of the Definition

In historical English dialects (particularly in Northern England, where the book's author George Meriton practiced law), a "segg" refers specifically to a male animal castrated after reaching maturity, rather than as a calf. Therefore, the Nomenclatura Clericalis uses taurus castratus to denote this specific type of older castrated bull, differentiating it from a standard working ox (bos) or a young steer (juvencus).

Would you like to explore other bovine or agricultural terms from this 17th-century text, or look into the legal context of why clerks needed these precise Latin terms?

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is there distincion between bobulus and bos?

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Yes, there is a sharp grammatical and contextual distinction between bos and bubulus in Latin.

While they both derive from the same linguistic root for cattle, they serve entirely different roles in Classical Latin, though their meanings shifted slightly by the time George Meriton wrote the Nomenclatura Clericalis in 1685. 

1. Grammatical Distinction (The Core Difference)

• Bos is a noun. It specifically means an individual animal: an ox, bull, or cow.
• Bubulus is primarily an adjective. It means "belonging to, or originating from, cattle/oxen".

Because bubulus is an adjective, Roman writers used it to modify other nouns:

• Caro bubula = Beef (literally "bovine meat").
• Corium bubulum = Ox-hide leather.
• Muscarium bubulum = A fly-swatter made from an ox-tail.

2. The 17th-Century Medieval/Legal Shift

In early Classical Latin, if you wanted to talk about a young castrated male bovine, you would use words like juvencus (steer). You would not use bubulus as a standalone noun for a living animal.

However, in Medieval and Legal Latin (the language used in the Nomenclatura Clericalis), clerks adapted classical words to match English farming terminology:

• Bos remained the standard, overarching word for a full-grown, working Ox.
• Bubulus was turned into a substantive noun (Bubulus, m.) to mean a Bullock (a young bull raised for meat or training).

Summary of the Nomenclatura's Hierarchy

When looking side-by-side in the text, the distinction becomes a matter of age and function:

• Bos: A fully matured, fully grown Ox used for plowing fields.
• Bubulus: A younger, growing Bullock.
• Taurus Castratus: A Bull-Segg (an adult breeding bull castrated later in life).

Would you like to look at how other animal ages (like calves vs. heifers) were classified in this text, or investigate further into Medieval Latin farming terms?

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and the steer Juvencus?

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In the Nomenclatura Clericalis, the entry for the "Steer, or Stott" is translated into Latin as Juvencus.

The choice of this specific word relies on a precise etymological concept rooted in youth, work, and animal maturity.

1. Etymology of Juvencus (Youth)

The Latin word juvencus comes directly from the root juvenis, meaning "young".

• Literal translation: A juvencus is simply a "young bovine."
• Female equivalent: The female counterpart is juvenca, which means a heifer (a young female cow that has not yet had a calf).

2. The Link to Work and Help

In historical dictionaries and encyclopedia texts (such as the writings of Isidore of Seville), juvencus is famously explained through a wordplay on the Latin verb juvare, which means "to help".

• A juvencus (steer) was traditionally viewed as a young bullock that is no longer a calf and "begins to be able to help man in tillage" (plowing the fields).

3. The Distinction: Steer vs. Stott

George Meriton provides two regional English terms for Juvencus: Steer and Stott.

• Steer: A young castrated male bovine, typically kept for beef production or trained early as a draft animal.
• Stott: An old northern English dialect word. It was used interchangeably with "steer" to mean a young ox or a young bull castrated early in life.

Summary of the Age Hierarchy

By using juvencus, the text firmly places the animal in a specific lifecycle category:

• Vitulus = A Calfe (the first stage of life).
• Juvencus = A Steer/Stott (a young, adolescent male capable of learning to pull a plow).
• Bos = An Ox (the fully mature, heavy working adult).

Would you like to examine how other young farm animals (like colts, lambs, or piglets) were categorized in the legal phrasing of the Nomenclatura?

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and did glossarists consider different renditions of ox-ford in view of this?

Yes, historical glossarists and antiquarians considered these exact distinctions, and it led to major debates over the literal meaning, translation, and historical dignity of the name Oxford.

When translating the Anglo-Saxon Oxnaforda (The Ford of the Oxen) into Latin, glossarists did not just settle on one generic word. They split into two main camps based on the very bovine hierarchy found in texts like the Nomenclatura Clericalis.

1. The Literal/Agricultural Camp: Vadum Boum (or Bos)

The most common and literal rendition used by medieval chroniclers and glossarists was Vadum Boum or Bovium Vadum (literally, "Ford of the Oxen," using the genitive plural of Bos).

• The Reasoning: This school of thought accepted the name at face value. The location was historically a shallow point in the river Thames where heavy, mature working oxen (Boves) could safely cross.
• The Critique: Later Renaissance and 17th-century scholars found this rendition a bit "low" or "common" for a prestigious university town. They argued that naming a great seat of learning after a common beast of burden lacked dignity.

2. The Mythological/Dignified Camp: Isidis Vadum

To escape the literal "ox" translation, several prominent glossarists and mythologists attempted a completely different etymological rendition: Isidis Vadum (The Ford of Isis).

• The Reasoning: They claimed that "Ox-" was not derived from the animal Bos, but was a corruption of the river's classical name, the Isis (the local name for the Thames at Oxford).
• The Connection to Cattle: To bridge the gap between "Isis" and "Ox," glossarists pointed right back to classical mythology. The Greek goddess Io was transformed into a heifer (juvenca or young cow) and was heavily syncretized with the Egyptian goddess Isis (who is often depicted with the horns of a cow). Therefore, they argued Oxford was actually the "Ford of Isis/Io," preserving a bovine connection but elevating it to a divine, poetic status.

3. The Rejection of Juvencus and Taurus Castratus

When glossarists looked at the specific categories, they deliberately avoided certain terms for the city's rendition:

• Why not Juvencus (Steer)? A juvencus was a young animal learning to plow. The heavy river crossing required the raw strength of fully matured, seasoned Boves (Oxen). Translating it as a ford for steers implied a weak or adolescent crossing.
• Why not Taurus Castratus (Bull-Segg)? As a specialized term for an older bull castrated late in life, a taurus castratus was far too specific and rare compared to the thousands of standard working oxen that moved agricultural goods across the country.

Ultimately, glossarists agreed that whether you viewed it literally as the muddy crossing of working oxen (boves) or poetically as a sacred site tied to the bovine goddess Isis, the animal's identity remained permanently stamped onto the town's history.

Would you like to look at the earliest written Anglo-Saxon records of the name Oxnaforda, or see how other English towns (like Cowford or Swindon) were translated by Latin glossarists?