What is a periculum?

Periculum is a Latin word that means danger, risk, peril, or hazard, and it is used in several academic and legal contexts in English. In classical Latin, periculum meant a trial, experiment, risk, or danger that one undergoes. The word is the root of the English word peril and perilous. In Roman law, periculum was an important concept referring to risk or liability, particularly who bears the risk if something is destroyed. For example, periculum emptoris means risk of the buyer, and periculum venditoris means risk of the seller. In modern legal studies, especially in civil law countries that derive from Roman law, periculum still appears in discussions of risk allocation in contracts. In Catholic moral theology, periculum is used in phrases like periculum mortis, which means danger of death, used in rules about emergency baptism. In ecclesiastical contexts, in periculo mortis means in danger of death. In general English usage, periculum is not a common word, but it appears in scholarly writing, Latin phrases, and mottoes. The plural is pericula, meaning dangers. So if you encounter periculum in a text, it almost always means danger, risk, or peril, and the context will tell you whether it refers to physical danger, legal risk, or moral danger. It is related to the verb experiri, to try or to experience.