The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. As the word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian (dialects of Italic) as well as in Latin, it probably descended from Indo-European to Italic. The diminutive form castellum was also used for the smaller forts, and the generic term praesidium ("garrison post") was also used. The terms stratopedon ("army camp") and ph… (More on Castra)