Alfonsine

A1L1F4O1N1S1I1N1E1

adjective

Of or relating to Alfonso X of Castile (1221–1284) or the Alfonsine tables, astronomical tables prepared under his patronage.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

Alfonsine1

adjectiveAlfonsine (not comparable)

alternative Alphonsine

  1. not comparableOf or relating to Alfonso X of Castile (1221–1284) or the Alfonsine tables, astronomical tables prepared under his patronage.

    The tables have been published by Rico y Sinobas (1866), in the same volume as his version of the Libro de las tablas alfonsies, and he claimed that they were "numerical fragments" of the original Alfonsine Tables.

    2000, José Chabás, Bernard R. Goldstein, Astronomy in the Iberian Peninsula
nounAlfonsine (plural Alfonsines)

plural Alfonsines · alternative Alphonsine

  1. One of the scholars who compiled the Alfonsine tables.
    3 more examples

    The oriental observers gave the method of determining the rising of the star, of taking the altitude of the sun, and of drawing the meridian line: they enabled the student to solve all the practical problems of astronomy. In the intellectual genealogy of man they may claim to be the progenitors of Kepler and of Newton; and the calculations of the Alfonsines are the remote but efficient causes of the perfection of modern astronomy.

    1821 October, “Art[icle] IX.—1. Vox Stellarium, a Loyal Almanac for the Year of our Lord 1821. By Francis Moore, […]. 2. History of Chemistry, prefixed to a Manual of Chemistry, by William Thomas Brande, […]”, in The Quarterly Review, volume XXVI, London: John Murray, […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 183

    The General estoria says notable things about Seth and his descendents:^([sic]) not least, it tells us that these men were the first to have knowledge of the liberal arts, eminently of astrology. This bit of information comes to the work from Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews; the Alfonsines do scarcely more than expand Josephus’ astrology to cover all seven liberal arts and theology.

    1991, Charles F[rederic] Fraker, “A Hermetic Theme in the ‘General estoria’”, in Karl-Hermann Körner, Günther Zimmermann, editors, Homenaje a Hans Flasche: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag am 25. November 1991, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, →ISBN, page 257

    Instead, Ptolemy invoked a ninth sphere to provide the diurnal east-to-west motion and taught that the eighth sphere turned from west to east very slowly about the poles of the ecliptic, completing a full revolution in 36,000 years. However, Clavius relates, Albategnius (al-Battānī) found a different rate, namely, one revolution in 23,760 years and the Alfonsines still another, one revolution in 49,000 years.

    1994, James M. Lattis, “Accommodations to Copernicus”, in Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Cosmology, Chicago, Ill.; London: The University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, chapter 6 (Strains on Ptolemaic Cosmology, Inside and Out), page 164

Alfonsine2

proper noun
  1. A municipality of the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

Alfonsine · adjective, noun

  1. LatinAlphōnsīnus
  2. EnglishAlfonsine

Equivalent to Alfonso + -ine, by way of earlier Alphonsine from Latin Alphōnsīnus.

Full word history & related roots →

Alfonsine · proper noun

  1. ItalianAlfonsine
  2. EnglishAlfonsine

Borrowed from Italian Alfonsine.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Italian Alfonsine
  • Alfonsinemunicipality of the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Portuguese alfonsino
  • alfonsinorelating to Alfonso X of Castile
Spanish alfonsino
  • alfonsinorelating to Alfonso X of Castile
Cite this entry
APA

Alfonsine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alfonsine

MLA

“Alfonsine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alfonsine. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Alfonsine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alfonsine.

Source: Alfonsine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.