Sothic, a.
(ˈsɒθɪk, ˈsəʊθɪk)
[f. Gr. σῶθις, an Egyptian name of Sirius, the dog-star.]
1. Sothic cycle or Sothic period, a period of 1460 full years, containing 1461 of the ancient Egyptian ordinary years.
| 1828 Wilkinson Materia Hierog. App. i. p. ii, This period is called ‘the Sothic period’. 1860 R. S. Poole in W. Smith Dict. Bible I. 506/1 Egypt, The Egyptians are known to have used two great cycles, the Sothic Cycle and the Tropical Cycle. 1892 S. Laing Human Origins (1893) 117 They had invented a sothic cycle for the odd quarter of a day. |
2. Sothic year, a year of 3651/4 days, in contrast to the ordinary Egyptian year of 365 days.
| 1828 Wilkinson Materia Hierog. App. i. p. i, As the Egyptian Solar year, in every four years, loses a day of the Sothic. 1860 R. S. Poole in W. Smith Dict. Bible I. 505/2 Egypt, There appear to have been at least three years in use with the Egyptians.., the Vague Year, the Tropical Year, and the Sothic Year. |